Bus Stories: Saga of a Gas Saver

cool can't wait,by the way.how old is that umbrella?every one
i own and have seen for the last 8yrs has a wood tip to
prevent what you just described.being a ligthing rod.go figure.
by the way,love the new avatar.

It is about 5 years old I guess. It is metal except for the handle which is plastic. Trees are wood and they get hit all the time. I saw the sap get boiled out of one once. Tampa Bay is known as the lightning capitol of the world. They even named the NHL team the Lightning. I have seen lightning come out of a blue sky miles from any storm. It is scary! Almost as scary as some of the people that ride that bus!

Oh how I miss the FL thunder storms and every summer when they counted the lightening strikes on the news...not really! Frog, I saw lightening hit a tree, go to the roots and up a metal fence to the house, which was a metal trailer and hit the propane tank...wanna guess what happened next? I am sorry you had a bad experiece..I thought I remembered it raining at 4:00pm everyday like clock work...when I was leaving work :lol: . Hopefully this will not be the norm for your experience with mass transit. :wink:

I'm on the bus now too :)

I started back in January and it was a cold walk but pleasant. Lucky for me I only have to catch one bus and walk about 3 blocks. As the cost of gas has gotten way out of control the bus is a complete madhouse! People litterally run each other over trying to get in to line first so they have a seat. We had 5 staning and 2 choose to sit on the floor the other night. I don't like the thunderstorms either. Thankfully most of them don't occur here, NC, until after I get off at 4:30. I've met some really great people so far and I love the time I have now to read.

Anything can be hit by lightening.....plastic, wood, water, humans. Its just a matter of how well it conducts with the material it hits. An umbrella with a wood tip will not prevent a lightening strike.

I also hope this isnt the depth of your experience with mass transit. Its a great way to go barring the bad weather :(

This is something that I could never figure out, why do they make umbrellas out of metal type material that is could be a walking lighting rod....beats me.

Well its the next day and my ride into work was pretty uneventful and relaxing. I read the paper and noticed some of the same people on the bus from the day before. The ride home was going the same but all the people were different and some very strange looking to put it conservatively. There were three bikes on the rack on the front of the bus which is all that it holds. The bus stopped to pick up some fares and ther was a guy with a bike that was obviously a street person of which Florida has more than their share. He was wearing what looked like a halter top with a big bare belly sticking out from under it. He screamed at the driver how he had been waiting in the hot sun for over an hour and wanted demanded to bring his bike on the bus. The driver, a woman as cool and calm as I have ever seen, told him the rules and closed the door. At that point he became enraged and started to kick and punch the bus. Lucky for him she only pretented to radio the police and he quickly calmed down. On my way again. End of day two.

this is better than taxi cab confessions,wonder if you could
interest HBO?

Frog, I love reading your writing. It is so vivid and alive. :D

Maany of us see this on a daily basis. It is the joys of public transportation. Really no big deal at all once you get used to it

Frogpatch,
Thank you for sharing your ongoing saga with us! What a fantastic way to look at it. It seems as if you are looking at it through a different perspective. I hope that your rides become more enjoyable, whether you like the added drama or the peace and quiet. I look forward to another episode of "As the Bus Wheel Turns" :wink:
Jen

Frog, I am so glad you have joined our exclusive bus-riding club! I have used public transit for years--and can tell you that I never have to hassle with parking at the hospital where I work (It's a HUGE pain) and the bus dumps me off literally outside my office door. I take two buses and a BART train and I get there about twenty minutes early every day.

Thanks for the bus saga, Frog. I'm rather enjoying it. I drive a transit bus as a second job / community service type thing. Started doing that almost ten years back, when I was trying to get the consultancy going, and enjoyed it so much I just kept doing it. Your 'stories from the other side' are great!

I love reading your stories frog- so descriptive! We don't have transit service where I live, although they do in the next town.

My hubby and I went out of town, actually out of state for about 4 days during the 4th. There they have trolleys and they also have these small bus things.

The bus stops, there is a seat in the back which I procede to go to. Hubby is showing our bus passes and proceeds to walk down the aisle too. This doofus apparently didn't look and jammed the gas to take off- I went flying to the back and a lady grabbed me, hubby went flying past me and some guy grabbed him :lol: should have yelled whip lash :lol:

Amateur drivers...

Wow thanks for all the positive input. Please visit my website when it is up and running next month! Frogpatch.com. It is a green place for kids to learn green things!

The ride in was its usual uneventful peacful trip. I read the news and it was quiet, once again leading me to believe the ride home would hold another surprise. I was right.
The homebound trip was also quiet except for the two guys talking near me. I was in the first seat behind the driver that faces sideways. One of the guys was diagonally facing me. He was a big blue collar type guy in his late forties of early fifties. He apparently had some form of Tourette syndrome. When their was a pause in the conversation he would look at me and move his arm and hand like a snake and hiss really loudly. I tried as hard as I could not to make eye contact with him, This went on for about ten minutes. The bus stopped to pick up a couple people in front of a bar called OZ. While they were paying thier fare there was a sudden jolt. A car had pulled out of the bar and drove right into the back of the bus. Then I saw it speed past with its entire right front fender crushed completely. Now we all have to fill out forms and wait for the next bus. There was no one injured except for one potentially litigious guy who said his back hurt.
The bus had no damage but the rule are they must remain and wait for the police to come and fill out a report. It was amazing how all the people who never spoke all had something to talk about. The driver of the car made it home so they could only get him for leaving the scene instead of DUI. My wife called me and asked where I was as it was getting past my arrival time. "Somewhere near Oz!" I said.

i'll bet that person felt that or will feel that in the morning.
ran into a bus,destroyed his front end and drove off,nice. :roll:

Three people got his plate number plus there is a camera on the front of the bus and witnesses that can place him in the bar so the stolen car trick won't work.

Wow! Drama on the bus! Atleast everyone was ok. I have to say, this is quite entertaining. I really do hope that person who did the hit and run is caught. That is plain wrong.