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J.A. Montalbano: Day Two: Bus commute to work excellent opportunity to people-watch

The Cure for the Common Car?

By J.A. Montalbano
Wednesday, May 23, 2007

I rode the bus Tuesday. I'm not the only one taking that option, it seems.

Greg Payne, the city's transportation director, said ridership is up about 20 percent in the first few weeks of May compared with a year ago. He rode the Central Avenue bus on May 16, when it was free, and said it was packed around midday.

"The overwhelming majority of folks who are new to the bus system cited increasing gas prices" for making the switch, Payne said.

My gas gauge hasn't budged since Sunday, because I haven't driven my car. It will sit in my driveway until Sunday.

I spent Tuesday morning shopping for a bike, and I was planning to ride it the 8.3 miles to work today.

But Tuesday was bus day. I left the house at 11:25 a.m. and got to the Rapid Ride stop outside Presbyterian Hospital on Central two minutes later. The message board at the stop promised a bus in five minutes, and it was right on time.

That brief window, though, let me witness a transaction among three men involving some sort of tobacco product that, apparently, when used properly, made tiny cigarettes.

The Rapid Ride was blessed with green lights and got me to San Mateo Boulevard at 11:40, in time for the next northbound San Mateo bus.

I sat on the waiting bench in the sun thinking it must get pretty damned hot in midsummer. I was in front of my favorite carwash (about $7 for the basic once-over) and across the street from a gas station advertising premium gasoline for $3.59.

The bus was due at 11:49, but it was running late. That gave the guy on the bench next to me time to reach into his backpack and show me an LCD sports watch, still in its package and clearly for sale. "No thanks," I said, but he gave me an opportunity to think about it and maybe change my mind. A salesman.

"How much do you sell that for?" I asked. He held up one finger. "A dollar?" I said. He nodded. Again I declined.

Not what I would call the hard sell. A real go-getter probably would have spoken a few words. You can't get much for a dollar these days. Except, of course, an all-day adventure courtesy of ABQ Ride. The bus arrived at 11:57.

The northbound Route 140/141 goes up San Mateo, turns onto Osuna and then Jefferson and stops in front of The Tribune's offices.

As the bus rumbled north, I made a half-hearted stab at reading but instead watched the people come and go. A couple of families with toddlers crowded in. A couple of older men struck up a fast friendship, but wouldn't talk with a guy in a neck brace who confided that he has a metal plate and six screws in his head and doesn't mind strangers knowing it.

When a girl, about 5, got off the bus, she left a little pocketbook behind. One of the riders asked the driver to wait at the red light, then jumped out, flagged down the family, returned the pocketbook and got back on the bus. Two women debated lunch options that came into view along San Mateo: Souper Salad? Furr's? Applebee's!

When the driver got to Jefferson and Osuna, she noticed the southbound 151 coming toward us and knew some of her passengers wanted to make that connection, the last one for about four hours.

She yelled out the window and caught the attention of the other driver, asking him to wait for her transfers. He did. Three riders jumped out, dashed across Jefferson and hopped on the 151.

I got to my desk at 12:30 p.m., just more than an hour after leaving home.

A little after 6 p.m., I went out to Jefferson to wait for that 151. For the second day in a row, the same driver on that route almost didn't see me. He braked quickly but overshot the bus stop by about 30 feet. I jogged to the door.

It was a six-minute ride to Century Rio, where I caught a movie screening and bummed a ride home from my date.

The charity ride -- last refuge of the carless.

• Length of commute (compared with 10-minute car ride): 65 minutes

• Cost: $1 for the bus all day

• Reading done: I polished off two back issues of the New Yorker and knocked out The Trib's Sudoku puzzle.