Early in October, I needed to get back from my hometown of Binghamton, NY back to my home in Albany in order to see The Color Purple at Proctors Theatre in nearby Schenectady. I stopped at the nice newish transportation hub in Binghamton, which had been spruced up a whole lot since I last took a bus out of Binghamton.
Unfortunately, it closed at 9:45 p.m., and I was there at 10:30. Worse, when I got online, I discovered that the bus I wanted, which leaves at 4:15 a.m.(!), was sold out.
Still, my friend got up at 3:15 to take me to the bus station; now THAT is a true pal. A bus heading for Syracuse, north, but a couple hours west of Albany, shows up around 4:15. The last time I needed to buy a ticket when the station was closed I would buy it from the driver.
Apparently, the procedure now is that he holds my ID, drives me to Syracuse, and THEN I buy a ticket for the trip I’ve already taken, and get my ID back. Then I buy a ticket for the bus from Syracuse to Albany, which was showing up at 6:30, only a half hour after I arrived; cool.
Syracuse has an even nicer transportation hub. I could have caught the train from there, if necessary.
I liked this: a young woman was heading back to college in western Massachusetts from Rochester, west of Syracuse. Unfortunately, she overslept and missed her bus. Fortunately, her father drove her the nearly 90 miles from Rochester to Syracuse in the middle of the night. She was very appreciative.
***
When I ride my bike, I ride along the right side of the road, the way I am supposed to. At least a couple times a week, I see a guy bearing right at me, because he’s going on the left side, usually going the wrong way on a one-way street to boot.
Almost every time this happens, he yells, “You’re on the wrong side!” To which I yell back, “You are incorrect.” Short of throwing page 91 of the New York State driver’s manual, which reads, “Where there is [no bicycle lane, bicyclists] must remain near the right curb or edge of the road or on a right shoulder of the road, to prevent interference with other traffic,” there’s not much I can do.
For ABC Wednesday
Interesting experience.
T for Transportation.Perfect post.
When I read blogposts like this… I always feel a little sad about the fact that I don’t know the place about which is written, so I don’t know anything about distances or whatever related to that particular story.
Still… public transportian is absolute not something I would step in to. I always travel with my own car, or sometimes on my bicyckle (an electric one because due to my bad joints I don’t have the power to get those pedals around constantly myself).
Have a splendid ♥-warming ABC-Wednes-day / -week
♫ M e l ☺ d y ♫ (abc-w-team)
http://melodymusic.nl/21-T
And there are a few bozos around town who object to bicycles being on the street at all. The city responded by increasing the number of roads with bike lanes, and where a road is really too narrow, there are diamond-shaped signs to the effect that “bicycles may use entire width of lane.”
They also doubled the bikes available for rental around downtown.
It pays to be familiar with the driver’s manual. I like riding larges buses.
Oh dear, a bike is in the past for me. I used to love biking with the grandchildren…as for buses, that one looks splendid and I’m sure Greyhound has improved since my last ride on a bus at least forty years ago!
things really change
Well that was quite the trip ~ Hope you enjoyed the movie ~ ?
A ShutterBug Explores
aka (A Creative Harbor)
Happy Thanksgiving to the USA
We have bike rentals around town starting this year, co-sponsored by the HMO (CDPHP) and the local bus transit (CDTA)
We do have bus service here but not NEAR as large as your state.
Ann
If there were bike paths here in the USA I would definitely ride more (since every Dutch person when I grew up, used it around town, doing groceries, shopping, etc.). The bus is another issue. Since in 5th and part of 6th grade I rode the bus (public transportation, not the school bus), I’m wary of a bus – too often strange people on there:)
Roger, about the turkeys(by the way it was a compliment you even mentioned that, since I am a Dutch citizen!) yes, I pardon the turkeys, but have a very hard time pardoning BO and HC. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
I haven’t ridden a bike in so long – used to so enjoy it. Now buses I still iuse and enjoy. Wonderful post Roger.
Bicyclists ride all over the roads here – very dangerous
Happy Thanksgiving!
The Husband, while driving, often grumbles at bicyclists who pedal down the wrong side of the road. Fortunately he only grumbles to me, then honk his horn or yell out the window at them.