On the way home, a gentleman got on and told the bus driver how much he missed her -- she used to have the route he rode in the morning. She said she missed all the good people on her old route, too. "Such a good bunch of people."
:)
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
New Schedules
New schedule this week. (Dec 1)
Some times people challenge the bus driver – we have a new bus driver on the route, one lady insisted he should stop at a certain place where a man was waiting. The new bus driver said “Only TTA stops” the lady insisted that the other bus drivers did. The bus driver, past the stop now, politely said he’d check when he got back. The lady, one of those forceful people, argued back. The bus driver said she could call the office. She promptly got on her cell phone and had an animated call with the office. I'm not sure the result, but she was friendly and mentioned something to him when she got off.
It can be tough being a bus driver on your first day on a route.
On the way home….
Change can be good. New schedules can be nice! Instead of waiting out in the cold (I thought it was going to rain so just wore my raincoat) the bus was there a few minutes early! We had the luxury of waiting for a few minutes in the warm bus instead of the cold wind.
Passengers again helping out – a woman wanted to go to South Hills, and one of the helpful passengers alerted her to her stop.
Some times people challenge the bus driver – we have a new bus driver on the route, one lady insisted he should stop at a certain place where a man was waiting. The new bus driver said “Only TTA stops” the lady insisted that the other bus drivers did. The bus driver, past the stop now, politely said he’d check when he got back. The lady, one of those forceful people, argued back. The bus driver said she could call the office. She promptly got on her cell phone and had an animated call with the office. I'm not sure the result, but she was friendly and mentioned something to him when she got off.
It can be tough being a bus driver on your first day on a route.
On the way home….
Change can be good. New schedules can be nice! Instead of waiting out in the cold (I thought it was going to rain so just wore my raincoat) the bus was there a few minutes early! We had the luxury of waiting for a few minutes in the warm bus instead of the cold wind.
Passengers again helping out – a woman wanted to go to South Hills, and one of the helpful passengers alerted her to her stop.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
People can be gems
People can be irritating.
I've heard the anguished cry of "people!" often enough to know I'm not alone.
But people can also make your day, or at least create a momentary smile with a random act of kindness. It's good to remember them more often than the irritating ones, so that's the subject of this post. (After all, it's three more days until Thanksgiving!)
For instance, riding home on the bus the other day, a woman causally mentioned to another passenger that she was so tired, she might forget to get off at her stop. (Her stop was one that you had to pull the "stop requested" wire for.) She did start to dose off, but the bus driver remembered it was her stop and a fellow passenger alerted her.
She got off at the right place -- I noticed there were a few extra smiles on the bus.
Another day, waiting to board the bus, the young lady next to me dropped her bus ticket without noticing. A passerby quickly reached down and grabbed it and handed it back to her before either of us noticed it was gone. How nice!
And there are people who wish you a nice day or just smile back at you that make things brighter. I'll try to have more examples as they occur.
A bit a humor can make your day, too.
Here's a blog filled with humorous pictures and videos.
Caution: You could spend hours laughing!
>http://failblog.org/tag/g-rated/
http://punditkitchen.com/tag/republicans/
(There's both sides, once you get to the blog)
Have fun! :)
I've heard the anguished cry of "people!" often enough to know I'm not alone.
But people can also make your day, or at least create a momentary smile with a random act of kindness. It's good to remember them more often than the irritating ones, so that's the subject of this post. (After all, it's three more days until Thanksgiving!)
For instance, riding home on the bus the other day, a woman causally mentioned to another passenger that she was so tired, she might forget to get off at her stop. (Her stop was one that you had to pull the "stop requested" wire for.) She did start to dose off, but the bus driver remembered it was her stop and a fellow passenger alerted her.
She got off at the right place -- I noticed there were a few extra smiles on the bus.
Another day, waiting to board the bus, the young lady next to me dropped her bus ticket without noticing. A passerby quickly reached down and grabbed it and handed it back to her before either of us noticed it was gone. How nice!
And there are people who wish you a nice day or just smile back at you that make things brighter. I'll try to have more examples as they occur.
A bit a humor can make your day, too.
Here's a blog filled with humorous pictures and videos.
Caution: You could spend hours laughing!
>http://failblog.org/tag/g-rated/
http://punditkitchen.com/tag/republicans/
(There's both sides, once you get to the blog)
Have fun! :)
Friday, November 21, 2008
Hurray for Congress
Hurray for Congress!
They asked the auto industry to give them a plan before they bailed them out.
I can’t believe the executives flew to Washington in their corporate jets with out a plan. Guess we know why the auto industry is in trouble—short term thinking. (Not that I don’t sympathize with the workers – I worked for GM as a first job out of college and lots of good people work there).
Sadly, they are not alone. Somehow, American business has gone astray.
One problem is accountability at the top.
It’s sad to read how a CEO that performs badly can have a golden parachute that’s worth more than the combined annual salaries of the people he caused to be laid off.
And it goes deeper – greed and getting used to high profit expectations. (Remember who the shareholders are – they aren’t all in the US…) Maybe if everyone took a look at their businesses and took a little smaller piece of the pie for the long term good, we’d get out of the recession quicker. Right now, we are digging ourselves in deeper as businesses slash budgets even before sales lag.
It's like when gas prices go up on the world market, they immediately go up. When the cost per barrel goes down, there is a lag before the consumer sees it. Someone's grabbing a extra piece of the pie each way.
So, if your going to complain, you should have a suggestion. Here goes:
Tracy's Recommendations to the Board of Directors of companies everywhere:
Cut your workforce, cut your execs pay
Cheers to the CEO of Gannett that cut his own pay by 17% to boost morale. Others should follow his example.
There are lots of capable people that can run your company
Don’t put up with lackluster planning and failure to meet reasonable, agreed on objectives.(Don’t sign contracts with extravagant amounts for failure. If the candidate needs that, they must not be confident they can succeed.) Tie rewards to long term goals, not quarterly profits.
If you have to ask the government to bail you out, have execs take a government level salary
This should definitely apply to those banks in the Wall Street bail out -- that evidently needs more structure and supervision!
Enough ranting and raving for today!
5 more days 'till Thanksgiving.
59 more days till.... :)
Have a wonderful weekend.
They asked the auto industry to give them a plan before they bailed them out.
I can’t believe the executives flew to Washington in their corporate jets with out a plan. Guess we know why the auto industry is in trouble—short term thinking. (Not that I don’t sympathize with the workers – I worked for GM as a first job out of college and lots of good people work there).
Sadly, they are not alone. Somehow, American business has gone astray.
One problem is accountability at the top.
It’s sad to read how a CEO that performs badly can have a golden parachute that’s worth more than the combined annual salaries of the people he caused to be laid off.
And it goes deeper – greed and getting used to high profit expectations. (Remember who the shareholders are – they aren’t all in the US…) Maybe if everyone took a look at their businesses and took a little smaller piece of the pie for the long term good, we’d get out of the recession quicker. Right now, we are digging ourselves in deeper as businesses slash budgets even before sales lag.
It's like when gas prices go up on the world market, they immediately go up. When the cost per barrel goes down, there is a lag before the consumer sees it. Someone's grabbing a extra piece of the pie each way.
So, if your going to complain, you should have a suggestion. Here goes:
Tracy's Recommendations to the Board of Directors of companies everywhere:
Cut your workforce, cut your execs pay
Cheers to the CEO of Gannett that cut his own pay by 17% to boost morale. Others should follow his example.
There are lots of capable people that can run your company
Don’t put up with lackluster planning and failure to meet reasonable, agreed on objectives.(Don’t sign contracts with extravagant amounts for failure. If the candidate needs that, they must not be confident they can succeed.) Tie rewards to long term goals, not quarterly profits.
If you have to ask the government to bail you out, have execs take a government level salary
This should definitely apply to those banks in the Wall Street bail out -- that evidently needs more structure and supervision!
Enough ranting and raving for today!
5 more days 'till Thanksgiving.
59 more days till.... :)
Have a wonderful weekend.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Comments
Some days, people who know each other will sit together and talk. It looks like a pleasant way to ride.
Between trying to look at mail on my phone, bits of conversation float my way.
"The lady I road with to the meeting drove really slow, seemed to take a hour."
"Not like the young women. They have no respect for laws."
"Laws?"
"Like the laws of physics and gravity." (Chuckles)
Gas went down to $1.99 a gallon, but I think I'm still going to stick with my bus experiement.
Between trying to look at mail on my phone, bits of conversation float my way.
"The lady I road with to the meeting drove really slow, seemed to take a hour."
"Not like the young women. They have no respect for laws."
"Laws?"
"Like the laws of physics and gravity." (Chuckles)
Gas went down to $1.99 a gallon, but I think I'm still going to stick with my bus experiement.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
People on the bus
Now that I'm a regular, (sort of) I noticed how different this bus ride was from Chicago. People actually talk to one another!
It seems like some of them work together at NC State -- I found out that NC State employees and students ride free, as do State employees. Good deal -- helps TTA make it's numbers and budget and helps keep traffic down. But quite a few people, like me, have to find dollars to feed the fare box. It's $4 a day, round trip, so I've run through quite a few singles in the last few days.
If you put in a five, it gives you a paper voucher for the change.
Found out from one of my fellow passengers that you get a discount when you buy a bus pass, and the best way to buy them is online. This also was quick and easy, once I got around to doing it.
Now back to the people -- they are a diverse lot -- all ages and types. Some of them ride the bus because of gas prices and some find it more convenient. One woman felt it was safer than parking in the ramp downtown near where she works.
One woman didn't have a car at all. She takes one bus from her job to Moore's Square, where she waits for another bus that takes her near her home. She phones her son from the bus, who picks her up on his scooter for the last leg of the trip. I believe she said it takes her about an hour and a half, but she's spared the cost of a car and insurance.
I was thinking about it. How much would people save if they didn't have to have cars? I look around my neighborhood -- not only do the adults all have cars (sometimes three for two people) the teens have cars when they get their licences. Growing up in Chicago, I remember that for a while, my parents only had one car. In the city, you could take busses if you needed to and stores were close enough to walk to. (Though I imagine that for big grocery shopping trips, my mom used the car in the evening.)
If high gas prices (they may go down temporarily, but I imagine they'll go back up after the election, they did last time) urge people to look at they way they live and commute, perhaps it's not totally a bad thing.
It seems like some of them work together at NC State -- I found out that NC State employees and students ride free, as do State employees. Good deal -- helps TTA make it's numbers and budget and helps keep traffic down. But quite a few people, like me, have to find dollars to feed the fare box. It's $4 a day, round trip, so I've run through quite a few singles in the last few days.
If you put in a five, it gives you a paper voucher for the change.
Found out from one of my fellow passengers that you get a discount when you buy a bus pass, and the best way to buy them is online. This also was quick and easy, once I got around to doing it.
Now back to the people -- they are a diverse lot -- all ages and types. Some of them ride the bus because of gas prices and some find it more convenient. One woman felt it was safer than parking in the ramp downtown near where she works.
One woman didn't have a car at all. She takes one bus from her job to Moore's Square, where she waits for another bus that takes her near her home. She phones her son from the bus, who picks her up on his scooter for the last leg of the trip. I believe she said it takes her about an hour and a half, but she's spared the cost of a car and insurance.
I was thinking about it. How much would people save if they didn't have to have cars? I look around my neighborhood -- not only do the adults all have cars (sometimes three for two people) the teens have cars when they get their licences. Growing up in Chicago, I remember that for a while, my parents only had one car. In the city, you could take busses if you needed to and stores were close enough to walk to. (Though I imagine that for big grocery shopping trips, my mom used the car in the evening.)
If high gas prices (they may go down temporarily, but I imagine they'll go back up after the election, they did last time) urge people to look at they way they live and commute, perhaps it's not totally a bad thing.
Day One, Continued
The way there went smoothly. Dropped off just in time for work.
The way home was a bit trickier. Had to keep checking my watch, didn't want to miss the bus or I'd have to wait another half hour for the next one, and it looked like that would be my last option.
Got there in plenty of time as the bus was a few minutes late. Double checked with the driver. (I wonder if everyone asks as many question as I do?) Different style bus than this morning, it was even quite comfortable.
Guess I'll try again tomorrow.
The way home was a bit trickier. Had to keep checking my watch, didn't want to miss the bus or I'd have to wait another half hour for the next one, and it looked like that would be my last option.
Got there in plenty of time as the bus was a few minutes late. Double checked with the driver. (I wonder if everyone asks as many question as I do?) Different style bus than this morning, it was even quite comfortable.
Guess I'll try again tomorrow.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Day One
I've always said I was a fan of public transportation, and the recent rise in gas prices got me thinking. Why not lower my carbon footprint and take the bus?
Growing up in suburban Chicago, we'd never drive downtown -- the train was so much more convenient.
So I decided to put my beliefs into action. Well, try an experiment, anyway.
The search started by searching online for Triangle Transit schedules. They were easy enough to find and understand, and by getting up about twenty minutes early, I arrived at the bus stop in plenty of time to get my first bus.
I kept checking my watch. Was the bus really going to arrive? Then, only about three minutes after the scheduled time, a bus pulled up. I double checked my destination with the driver, which was a good thing. It was the right bus route number, but the bus was going in the opposite direction.
A few minutes later, the right bus arrived. It took me a minute to figure out how to get my money in the slot, but I managed and the helpful bus driver informed me that for $4, I could ride the bus all day! What a deal, too bad I had to go to work.
It was a Monday, and the bus was fairly empty. I looked around. The bus was in good shape, with colorful, clean seats and a good driver. The rest of the ride was uneventful -- Raleigh looks quite interesting from the window of the bus.
Growing up in suburban Chicago, we'd never drive downtown -- the train was so much more convenient.
So I decided to put my beliefs into action. Well, try an experiment, anyway.
The search started by searching online for Triangle Transit schedules. They were easy enough to find and understand, and by getting up about twenty minutes early, I arrived at the bus stop in plenty of time to get my first bus.
I kept checking my watch. Was the bus really going to arrive? Then, only about three minutes after the scheduled time, a bus pulled up. I double checked my destination with the driver, which was a good thing. It was the right bus route number, but the bus was going in the opposite direction.
A few minutes later, the right bus arrived. It took me a minute to figure out how to get my money in the slot, but I managed and the helpful bus driver informed me that for $4, I could ride the bus all day! What a deal, too bad I had to go to work.
It was a Monday, and the bus was fairly empty. I looked around. The bus was in good shape, with colorful, clean seats and a good driver. The rest of the ride was uneventful -- Raleigh looks quite interesting from the window of the bus.
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