BUS EDUCATION November 11, 2005 Written by Jay Jacobson Yesterday it hit me like a ton of bricks... My entire life I have lived in places that required owning a car to get around. Both Las Vegas and Phoenix are very spread-out cities without any significant focus on really usable public transportation. In those cities, the busses are basically only used by people who can not afford a car. Absolutely nobody in Phoenix or Vegas would use public transportation because it is easy or convenient. In those places, it is neither. Not true in San Francisco. The city is anything but spread out. Everyone living in the city uses public transportation because it *is* easy and convenient. It has nothing to do with being able to afford owning a car. Rather, living in the city and owning a car would be terribly cumbersome. Consider that it is thought to be a great "benefit" if your apartment has parking available, five city blocks away, for only $300/month, for one single parking space. If you are extremely lucky, those five blocks will not be up/down a hill with a 90-degree angle. :) As I mentioned, everyone living in the city uses public transportation. Lawyers, students, stock brokers, geeks, street performers, and everyone else. So, for the first time in my life, I needed to figure out how this whole public transportation thing works. There are busses, trollies, street cars, cable cars, trains, and subways. The transportation is so plentiful it is confusing. A good problem to have though. Yesterday, I began by walking down to the store to buy a "weekly Muni pass." For $15, this pass gives me unlimited usage of almost every system. Literally, just walk onto nearly any bus, flash the pass to the driver, and get where I need to go. After getting my shiny new pass, I was anxious to try it out, and attempt to not look like a stupid tourist in the process. I needed to go back to Union Square to get a *much* smaller, and *much* more portable bag for my laptop. The other day, I walked to Union Square in only about ten minutes, so I could have done that. However, the Muni pass was itching to get used. A quick glance at the map showed that I could catch the 27 line only about a block away, and it would drop me off right in front of the Apple Store in Union Square. Perfect! I walked up to Sutter and Hyde, hung out at the corner for about five minutes, and the bus came rolling around. My first worry was knowing which bus to actually get on. Luckily, I quickly learned that the bus stop itself lists which line(s) service that stop, and every bus has a big number on it to show which line it is. This must all sound so silly to someone that has used public transportation their entire life. Ah, the little things. :) I hopped on the bus, and in about five minutes I was hopping off at the Apple Store in Union Square. That was really easy, convenient, and not nearly as daunting and confusing as I thought it would be. I grabbed a bite to eat, bought a new laptop case, and wanted to head back to the apartment to get all of my stuff into the new case. Now, here is the part where I first began to love the bus. You see, earlier this week when I walked to Union Square, it was not too bad at all, only about ten minutes and downhill the whole way (which on steep hills starts to hurt your shins after a while). However, a downhill walk *TO* Union Square certainly meant an uphill walk *BACK* to the apartment in Nob Hill (yes, it is called Nob _Hill_ for a very good reason). For someone allergic to exercise, the walk back to the apartment was not very fun. Anyway, my point is that riding the public bus back up the hill was far more enjoyable. You read that correctly... I used the words "public bus" and "enjoyable" in the same sentence! Go figure. Now that I have my Muni pass, I am still doing a lot of walking, and actually enjoying it. Sometimes it is better to just walk a few blocks, sometimes it is easier to just walk a bit, and even if you take the bus, you still need to walk at least a couple of blocks to/from the stops. I learned that it is quite common for people to walk the downhill routes, then take the bus on the uphill legs. I can see this just by looking at the number of people on the busses - the uphill busses are always more crowded. The bus is also particularly useful when you are carrying a bunch of bags, or are tired from a long day. So, the bus does not replace the need or desire to still do a lot of walking. However, the bus does make some situations far better. An example of this is going longer distances. Last night I went to a bar in the Mission District where a bunch of geeks were getting together. I probably could have walked there in about 45 minutes, which is not all that bad, but I really did not know where I was going. Hooray for the bus! I got on the 27 line again, which took me to Union Square, where I caught the 26 line, which dropped me off literally steps from the bar. Perfect! (I later learned that I could have taken the 26 line directly from Nob Hill to Mission, but oh well, I will do that next time.) I did make one error with my bus escapades yesterday though. When leaving the bar, I just got right back on the 26 line where it had dropped me off. Oops... it was the southbound leg of the route, where I needed the northbound leg to get back to Nob Hill. After being on the bus for about 20 minutes, the driver pulls over and announces "last stop!" Uh... I got off and had absolutely no clue where I was at. (It turns out that I was at the Balboa Park BART (subway) station.) I went back and talked to the driver, explaining that I must have made a mistake. Indeed. I should have walked over a block and got on the 26 line northbound. No problem though - I just had to wait about 15 minutes and he would be turning around and doing the northbound leg. In the end, no big deal at all - it just cost me about an hour of wasted time. Lesson learned. If that had not worked out for whatever reason, I was at a BART station, so I could have easily hopped on the subway which would take me right back to either Mission or Union Square (or even about ~8 blocks away from the apartment in Nob Hill). So, that was my great bus educational adventure. Not too bad, and I can easily see why everyone uses the public transportation here. Easy and convenient (and a hell of a lot less hassle than owning a car). Today has been relatively uneventful. I just walked a few blocks over to a coffee shop called Nook. It is a small place - only about a dozen tables. Yet, every table, 100% of them, has a laptop on it. Pretty cool. I am not a complete freak afterall. The baristas here are from Italy and Norway. The coffee is good, free Internet access, kind-of the right atmosphere (but not nearly as good as Coffee Rush), and they are open until 10:30PM (better than 7PM, but still not late enough). They also serve food - a small, but tasty, menu - which is a plus. So, this place is pretty good, and will largely suffice until I find that really "perfect" spot. I have been here at Nook for a few hours just working - which I had a lot of catching-up to do. I will probably be here for a few more hours, then maybe head over to the neighborhood bar I mentioned in my previous writings. The other night, I met the owner of the place. His name is Maho (sp?) and he lives in the apartment directly above the bar. I am not sure where he is from but I will find out. I am guessing India or Pakistan. Anyway, he is a very nice guy and has already introduced me to a couple of people who own or manage some of the nice apartment buildings in the neighborhood. Those connections will likely come in handy next week when Erik gets here and we really start looking at places to live. So, now time for my thoughts and musings. First, San Francsico seems to be missing a lot of fat people. Not that everyone here is too skinny or anything, but there just are not as many fat people here as I have seen in other cities. As of yet, I am not sure exactly why, but I think it may be a combination of urban living (lots of walking and exercise), the hills (making the walking more fat-burning), and the total, absolute lack of fast food. If I did not know better, I might think that fast food is illegal in the city. Seriously. While riding the bus last night, once we were outside of the main city area, I saw one KFC and one Burger King. I also happen to know there is an In-n-Out Burger down by Fisherman's Wharf. Other than that, there is just no fast food in the city. Nowhere. Period. There are many restaurants and cafes here, so there is plenty to eat, but it is all good food, made with real ingredients, that are pronouncable. I really like that. Along those same lines, I have been eating better (which I ate pretty good food already back in Phoenix). More interestingly, I have been getting a ton of exercise (for me) with all of the walking and the hills. I know I poke fun at it sometimes, but in reality, I do not really mind it. I am actually enjoying most of the walking. I think I am starting to lose a little weight too. Gasp! Not a whole lot yet, but a little. Give me a few months of this and I think there will be a real noticable improvement. I always hate exercising, but when it is just a natural part of living and getting around, I do not seem to mind it at all. Maybe I finally found my niche for how to exercise. I will leave you with a random thought of today. In a big urban city, with many tall buildings close together, sirens on ambulances and fire trucks are obnoxiously loud. Much, much louder than in Phoenix. The sound echos off of all the buildings and all of the concrete/stone really seems to amplify the sirens. Yes, a totally random thought and useless bit of information, but it is something I noticed. Who knows, maybe you will see it as a Jeopardy question some day. Thank me later for enlightening you. :) More of my Bay Adventures: http://kinetic.org/bay-adventure/ My website: http://kinetic.org/