This week Wayne shares his thoughts about the last ten weeks.
I drove Kay to work on Wednesday morning and went past a bus stop and saw a man waiting there and he reminded me of myself a week ago. “Poor bloke,” I said to my wife, “look at him standing there, waiting for a bus, I hope he’s patient.”
So what are my rambling thoughts after 10 weeks of over 120 different trips mostly travelling by bus? Using Google Maps and clicking onto “directions” via public transport made the whole job easy but not fool proof. In the past I was ignorant about getting on a bus, partly because I didn’t have the necessary bus pass and I didn’t know the exact time or the destination of the bus, so I thought it was just all too hard. But obviously lots of people use it, especially those routinely going to work, students and pensioners. So now for me as long as I’ve got money on the MetroCard and I have Google Maps opened, I can generally get from A to B with less than three bus trips, sometimes using a train or a tram or a short walk in between. The bus network throughout Adelaide is quite incredible. Most bus routes seem to have a few really slow parts through the back streets and then they get onto a main road and stick to it to get into the city.
Sometimes I felt powerless when I travelled on public transport. I had no control. I did have times when a connecting bus did not show up, so a long wait for the next one. The weather was good, I didn’t have to walk or stand in the rain or the cold and I did not have very hot weather either. Generally, I had a pretty good run and so the occasional walk did me no harm at all. What I did notice was that when I told someone that I was about to catch a bus they said, “Don’t be ridiculous, I’ll take you”, and I thought that’s exactly what I would’ve said. But if the bus is going direct to where you need to go, it’s just as quick as a car and it’s not very expensive. Did people look down on me because I was catching public transport? Maybe, but I wasn’t aware of it. I didn’t have to worry about vehicle costs like fuel, parking or ongoing mechanical problems with my motorbikes. I simply walked to the bus stop and patiently, within an hour and a bit, I’d normally get to where I wanted to be.
People rarely communicate with each other while on public transport, especially on the trains, I noticed most people were wearing something in or on their ears which seemed to cut them off from everyone else in the train. I found that a bit sad but I can understand why it happens. We have become so introverted from those we don’t know and I think it’s more than Covid. I think it’s a sign of the individual lifestyle we lead and it hasn’t occurred just because of mobile phones either.
I remember travelling in the trains in Sydney in the 1980’s and most people were reading a newspaper or a book. Difficulties can actually bring out the best in a community and we only have to think about life for those during the depression or the world war years. People supported each other.
I learnt to adapt to public transport being the means by which I got around and I had very little problems with it. There were the annoying occasions when I had people chewing gum sitting right behind me, only twice, a young chap carrying a speaker that was playing annoyingly loud music and there was a man talking on his phone at the back of the bus and he was very loud and he constantly swore. I felt for the other people on the bus and I was actually surprised how tolerant they all were. Maybe it was because most of the others had an earpiece and couldn’t hear the noises! I was surprised that every time a person got off the bus they would either sing out “thank you” to the bus driver or at the very least give him or her a wave. So I adopted the same habit.
So for my travels mostly I caught the 411 bus that stopped only 200 meters from our house and that went about 3 km to the train where I could either go into the city, or toward the city, hop off and catch the 300 bus up Regency Rd to where I needed to go. On a couple of days I caught several trains and buses to various places and I had 10 different trips altogether. Yes I will use public transport more in the future, especially when it’s raining and I don’t want to get wet travelling on the bike. I find myself still looking at every bus number as a habit and wondering where that bus and those passengers are headed for.
Am I a domineering driver or a patient passenger? I’d like to think I’ve learnt to become a more patient passenger and driver but after less than a week driving again I’ve got a long way to go. I have huge respect for all of those who have no alternative but to use public transport and especially to those in a wheelchair.
At least the public transport system allows most people to be in some control of their daily life thanks to the buses, trains or trams. Well you’ve been patient to read all of this and get to this point so maybe you’ve got what it takes to travel on public transport.
I am very thankful to God for His grace and mercy. Kay has been very supportive and patient and I am very thankful.
Thanks also to this Church family for your care and understanding.
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.“
Philippians 4:4.