Oh, how I love public transit. I take public transit to and from work nearly every day. Most people that have spent more than one day in Chicago have probably used the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority)—the bus or the “El”—at least once.
Of course, not everyone is a public transit fan. And there are plenty of reasons not to love public transit. Like….
1) The El usually stinks. And it usually stinks like pee.
2) It, more often than not, takes longer to get to work than it would if I drove. My morning commute is about 45 minutes to 1 hour. If I drove, it would take me about 20 minutes—without traffic, that is. Most mornings, I wouldn’t hit traffic. But most evenings I probably would (especially during baseball season)---in which case it could take much longer.
3) Cub fans. Especially drunk Cub fans. Enough said.
4) There’s a schedule. And they kinda follow it. So, you can’t just go whenever, unless it happens to be a route that is very frequent.
But, I find there’s also a whole lot of reasons to take public transit. And for me, these reasons outweigh the reasons not to take public transit (even if it’s stinky).
1) I’m saving dinero. I pay $86 (pre-tax $!) a month for unlimited rides. To park at my place of work, is $80+, plus gas, plus wear and tear on the car.
2) I don’t have to drive. I don’t like driving. There’s a lot of road rage in Chicago. And 9 months of winter. It’s scary.
3) I can read…A LOT. I’ve always been a reader…taking public transit gives me gobs of time (1.5 hours/5 days a week) to read.
4) I can get from my house to the magnificent mile in 7 minute or less. And not pay $40 to park somewhere.
5) I can nap. If I’m really tired, I can fit in a couple 10 minute cat naps on my way to work.
6) The El might be crammed with people, but there’s never traffic on the El track.
7) It’s surprisingly entertaining. There’s all kinds of people on the CTA. Doing all kinds of weird things.
And finally, the most important reason of all (and where you knew this post was headed)…..public transit is better for the environment!!!!!!! See? So saving the world….
3 comments:
I wish I had access to public transit but I live in the middle of nowhere... busses don't come here :(
But I do try to walk to wherever I can instead of driving!
I definitely agree with the point that public transportation is entertaining. My favorite experiences include listening to a man yell that he was Batman for almost an entire El ride, or having somebody come up to me and ask me where the public library was, just to immediately follow up that question by asking if I'd like to go back to his cousin's house to engage in sexual relations. (That's even how he asked it.) Yep. Wildly entertaining.
I've used public transit since 2004 in Atlanta and it is a great way to save cash and at times frustration. I love reading and watching movies on transit. It is entertaining and I feel like I could write a book about all the craziness I've seen/experienced over the years.
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