Don't usually go back for stories, but last Thursday's ride home had some facets that must be documented. It was the 4 PM bus and at the stop in front of Fry's, at Southern, an extremely large woman got on the bus. She easily topped 300 lbs - she was big. She had a walker, and I wondered if her weight made her need the walker or if a condition requiring the walker had helped push up her weight ... a chicken/egg first situation. The driver made two boys get up so the woman could sit down - she filled the front seat.
As we drove along, another woman across the aisle called over to the heavy woman and asked if she was going to work. The heavy lady said no, she was going home, but she was taking the southbound bus and going to ride around the loop because she couldn't get across Southern without being hit by a car. Have I described this clearly? This woman really needed a northbound bus, but got on the southbound and was going to ride for an hour to get back to where she would have picked up the northbound bus - who knows how far north she needed to go? She was basically using an entire bus route to cross a street! I know the intersections here are huge and drivers are impatient and unfriendly, but I can't imagine she couldn't walk across the street. She made it across Fry's parking lot and into the store - that's twice the distance across the intersection ... of course, the more she doesn't do, the more she doesn't want to do and the harder it gets, etc. It was like taking I-10 from Phoenix to Los Angeles by way of Houston. Maybe she didn't have anything better to do timewise, but her health will never improve as long as she'd rather sit for an hour than walk for 5-10 minutes. I'm sure the walk isn't easy for her, but oh my goodness.
Later in the same ride, we stopped at Guadalupe and Rural. A lady in a wheelchair wanted to know if the bus went to McClintock and Baseline before she got loaded on the bus. The driver said yes and they began the loading procedure. I was pretty sure the bus didn't go there, but since I haven't ridden the route to its farthest reaches, I hesitated to jump in the conversation. The driver got her all strapped in and then said, "Wait a minute, McClintock and Baseline? No, I don't go there." (Duh????) He said he could take her to McClintock and she could transfer to the 81 and get to Baseline. She was affable and said that would work and the driver went up to let the other people who were waiting get on the bus.
There were three of them, a man in his 40s, a woman in her 40s and a young boy. They had waited the whole time while the driver was getting the wheelchair lady into the bus and strapped and no sooner were they on and the bus moving when the man pulled the cord. He and the woman got off at the next stop! They went separate directions, so weren't together and I'm pretty sure they weren't getting off because they'd made a mistake. In the time they'd waited for the bus to go, they could have walked to where they got off - neither appeared physically disabled - what part of this am I not getting? Those stops aren't even a quarter of a mile apart and it's not August! I know the man used a transfer slip when he got on which meant he'd been dropped off by another bus (probably one on Rural) and then waited, gawdknowshowlong, for the 66 to come and take him less than a quarter of a mile. Where's the logic? I just don't get it. Had to write about these things - simply amazing.
As we drove along, another woman across the aisle called over to the heavy woman and asked if she was going to work. The heavy lady said no, she was going home, but she was taking the southbound bus and going to ride around the loop because she couldn't get across Southern without being hit by a car. Have I described this clearly? This woman really needed a northbound bus, but got on the southbound and was going to ride for an hour to get back to where she would have picked up the northbound bus - who knows how far north she needed to go? She was basically using an entire bus route to cross a street! I know the intersections here are huge and drivers are impatient and unfriendly, but I can't imagine she couldn't walk across the street. She made it across Fry's parking lot and into the store - that's twice the distance across the intersection ... of course, the more she doesn't do, the more she doesn't want to do and the harder it gets, etc. It was like taking I-10 from Phoenix to Los Angeles by way of Houston. Maybe she didn't have anything better to do timewise, but her health will never improve as long as she'd rather sit for an hour than walk for 5-10 minutes. I'm sure the walk isn't easy for her, but oh my goodness.
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