Due to the many missed connections thanks to the ever delayed Route 42 bus, I decided to hop on a different bus yesterday afternoon. One that takes me on a different route and a different bus stop to get on my Express bus home.
By the time we got to Fort Street Mall, the bus was completely PACKED to the gills. I couldn't see out of the windows, I could barely hear the automated voice telling me where I was, and worst of all, I couldn't get out of my seat to get close to the door. For this route, I had to get off the bus somewhere near Fort Street Mall and walk down the street to another bus stop to get on my connection.
Well, because the bus stop was backed up, we stopped near the intersection (our tail end blocking a portion of it), and the driver was letting more people in. At the VERY last minute, I see the lady who rides my bus home jump off! I pushed my way through to look out the window and lo and behold, I missed my stop. I figured the driver would pull up a little more to the actual bus stop and let more people out (or in for that matter) and he didn't. DAMMIT! "Don't panic. Just pull the cord to stop the bus and get off at the next stop. It'll be ok." That's what I told myself repeatedly to avoid panicking. It's 4:10 and my bus is leaving in 5 minutes!
Well, the next stop is about a mile away! Thankfully, there was still a stop before the bus headed down to Kaneohe. But now, I'm at the corner of Vineyard and Pali at the YMCA. O M G! NOW WHERE DO I GO!! Ahh! Don't panic. DON'T PANIC. In my mind, I realized, there are no buses that go down vineyard, per se. I would have to walk two or three blocks down to Liliha to get on the express bus. Or walk back a mile to the Beretania/Pali bus stop (which is the one I was SUPPOSED to get to in the first place).
I pick up the phone and call a technician (co-worker) to see if he was still in town. You wanna talk about the value of a NANOSECOND!? He was right around the corner headed in my direction on his way home. HALLELUJAH PRAISE THE LORD. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Time to bring my heart rate down. So, he saved me from a hell of a long walk in the blaring hot sun, surrounded by downtown traffic without shade (I didn't have my umbrella), and getting home at 6:30 pm.
Even if he wasn't there to take me home, I would've figured out a way to get there. And I would've enjoyed the journey and adventure that the Bus would've taken me. I just didn't want to miss my Ewa Beach Community Development Organization monthly meeting at 6:30. :)
Now that was a pretty interesting way to end my day. Thanks Tech for the rescue!!
P.S. Note to The Bus management, PLEASE get ALL of the buses in your fleet equipped with GPS. The ones that don't have it are NEVER on time! Your riders VALUE the gps system and the bus app.
By the time we got to Fort Street Mall, the bus was completely PACKED to the gills. I couldn't see out of the windows, I could barely hear the automated voice telling me where I was, and worst of all, I couldn't get out of my seat to get close to the door. For this route, I had to get off the bus somewhere near Fort Street Mall and walk down the street to another bus stop to get on my connection.
Well, because the bus stop was backed up, we stopped near the intersection (our tail end blocking a portion of it), and the driver was letting more people in. At the VERY last minute, I see the lady who rides my bus home jump off! I pushed my way through to look out the window and lo and behold, I missed my stop. I figured the driver would pull up a little more to the actual bus stop and let more people out (or in for that matter) and he didn't. DAMMIT! "Don't panic. Just pull the cord to stop the bus and get off at the next stop. It'll be ok." That's what I told myself repeatedly to avoid panicking. It's 4:10 and my bus is leaving in 5 minutes!
Well, the next stop is about a mile away! Thankfully, there was still a stop before the bus headed down to Kaneohe. But now, I'm at the corner of Vineyard and Pali at the YMCA. O M G! NOW WHERE DO I GO!! Ahh! Don't panic. DON'T PANIC. In my mind, I realized, there are no buses that go down vineyard, per se. I would have to walk two or three blocks down to Liliha to get on the express bus. Or walk back a mile to the Beretania/Pali bus stop (which is the one I was SUPPOSED to get to in the first place).
I pick up the phone and call a technician (co-worker) to see if he was still in town. You wanna talk about the value of a NANOSECOND!? He was right around the corner headed in my direction on his way home. HALLELUJAH PRAISE THE LORD. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Time to bring my heart rate down. So, he saved me from a hell of a long walk in the blaring hot sun, surrounded by downtown traffic without shade (I didn't have my umbrella), and getting home at 6:30 pm.
Even if he wasn't there to take me home, I would've figured out a way to get there. And I would've enjoyed the journey and adventure that the Bus would've taken me. I just didn't want to miss my Ewa Beach Community Development Organization monthly meeting at 6:30. :)
Now that was a pretty interesting way to end my day. Thanks Tech for the rescue!!
P.S. Note to The Bus management, PLEASE get ALL of the buses in your fleet equipped with GPS. The ones that don't have it are NEVER on time! Your riders VALUE the gps system and the bus app.
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