buses and bikes

Since I moved from Chicago to Kansas City almost a year ago I've cultivated a little grudge against the local public transportation system, the Metro. My reasons weren't sound or logical, and they can mostly be summed up as, "It's not the CTA!" It was very possible that the Metro ran more efficiently than the CTA, was cheaper and had more comfortable vehicles with friendlier operators. I didn't care. The CTA was the system I was accustomed to, the Metro was new. Everything was new when I first moved, and it was one more new thing that I didn't care to figure out. Learning so many new things all at once is exhausting.

Then about a month ago my friend Baird explained to me how he took the bus to work and loaded his bike on the front of the bus. He had all kinds of great things to say about how inexpensive it was, how much gas money he was saving, how easy it was to get his bike on the rack. He really made the bus system sound like some kind of mass-transit wonderland, and I got a little jealous. The part of my brain that used to be kind of public-transportation- obsessive perked up. Suddenly I had all kinds of questions about bus routes, maps and schedules.

Luckily, the KC Metro has an easy-to-use website with a trip planner, updated news and information, a traffic watch and all of the maps, routes and schedules I could ever dream or imagine. After figuring out which buses would best take me from my apartment to the office, I decided I'd give it a trial run.

I was at the first bus stop at 7:28 am, bike in tow. The first route I took is the MAX, which features brand new buses, futuristic looking stops with lots of seating, and a to-the-minute news ticker that announces the time the next bus will arrive. Loading my bike was easy, and the driver even came out to make sure I'd done it properly. He was enthusiastic and attentive, handed a transfer card to me, and when I overpaid the fare (it's $1.25), he gave me back a fare card with my change on it. I couldn't have been more surprised if he'd handed me a doughnut.

The MAX dropped me off downtown by Union Station and I waited for my next route, the 142. After about 8 minutes it came - just like the website trip planner had promised. Again I loaded my bike, and boarded what is best described as a lounge on wheels. The aisles were wide, the seats stuffed and upholstered and there was only one other passenger. It was like having a personal luxury vehicle hired to chauffeur me to work.

Except, if a luxury vehicle actually had been hired to take me to work, it wouldn't have dropped me off 2 miles away from my office. I rode the line as far north as it went, and embarked on the final leg of my journey, self-propelled on my Schwinn. When I biked up to my office, a little sweaty and out of breath from the hilly ride, three of my coworkers were outside, waiting for me. As I rode closer they started to clap. And cheer. For me and my bike. And, I'd like to think, for my accomplishment of the first step in the simple challenge.