For Love!!!!!!!!!!!

I normally hate when I'm on the bus and couples decide to fondle each other right in front of me. Don't get me wrong i love a good cuddle, just not when I'm in public. I feel like it's so obnoxious to show off how "in love" you are in public. When ever i do it i feel bad for people who are alone so i generally try and stay away from it.

So by now we all probably know what happened on the bus this week................. Nothing. i got on and had a wonderful ride. Just kidding of course two young lovers walked on the bus and sat in front of me and made out the whole time. I had a few problems with the situation that was unfolding in front of me: First, the girl was super hot so i was really jealous, second, it was 7:30 in the morning. Seriously i barely have the energy to shower at 7 in the morning, let alone have a full on make out session.

I put my headphones  in and did my best to ignore the two. An older lady got on the bus and walked down the isle and tried to find a seat. I would have gotten up and gave her my seat, but their was a man beside me in the aisle seat and he was snoozing. What happened next surprised every one on the bus.

The young man that was making out with his girlfriend somehow saw the old lady, got up and gave her his seat. As he held on to the pole in the middle of the isle he gave his girlfriend a smile. The two ladies sitting beside each other now got involved in a very intense conversation about love. Every time the old lady mentioned love the young girl would look up and give her boyfriend a smile. Clearly I'm not the biggest romantic, but on that bus ride i think i saw love.

When i got off the bus i passed the young man on the way to the door. I was tempted to give him a kiss, but i just decided to smile and keep walking. As i looked back i thought to my self "Ya if i were her id be making out with that guy all the time to"

BBF (Bus Best Friend)

I made a post earlier in the year talking about the bus crew. A bus crew is basically people who travel together on the bus and are best friends. I ride the bus a lot, and there are a few people who I see all the time, and I know when their stops are. I never once thought that those random people, had become my bus crew.

There was a specific incident that set this idea off in my brain. It was Wednesday morning and I was in what I like to call zombie mode (Zombie mode happens when your brain shuts off and you just go through the motions of your day. Interesting side note, I'm in zombie mode right now) School was the main reason I was in zombie mode. Trying to complete assignments that are due the next day, and studying for exams will put you in zombie mode real fast. So when my bus came that morning all I wanted to do was sleep.

I got on the bus and the seat in the very back corner was open. I knew if I sat there i would fall asleep. I hesitated to sit there, on one hand it would be nice to catch some shut eye, on the other if I fall asleep, there is no way I'm waking up in time to catch my stop. Eventually my body made the decision to sit in the corner seat. Within two seconds of siting in that seat I was fast asleep.

I'm sure the bus ride went as usual. Getting stuck in Osborne village because of traffic, taking sharp turns downtown too fast, and slamming on the brakes when the bus gets to a stop. But none of that could wake me up, I was out cold. I woke up to an old man standing over me, the same old man I ride the bus with every morning, the same old man that gets off at the same stop as me. He was shaking my shoulder and this is no word of lie what he said to me.

"Time to get up sonny . This is our stop"

I was instantly transformed into a child again. I wanted to hug him and say thanks daddy, but i just stuck with a simple thank you. When I stood up the two other guys that get off at our stop (Green hat, and red jacket) were waiting at the door looking at us. That was the moment it dawned on me. These guys were my bus crew. We knew when they got on and where they got off. We might not ever talk, but by god we are a bus crew!

Vintage Bus FTW!

As i got on my bus to head to school, i was surprised when the door opened and i saw stairs leading up. I walked up them slowly towards the bus driver, and when i turned the corner i realized i was on a vintage transit bus. Memories quickly came back to me as i sat down.

Memories like the first time i was ever on a bus. I was twelve years old (i know, i was a late bloomer for transit) and a couple friends and i were going to the mall. None of are parents could give us a ride so we decided to take the bus. We had no idea what bus we were suppose to take, i figured every bus was going to take me where i wanted to go. So we went to the bus stop and waited for the first bus to come by. Obviously it took us the opposite way we wanted to go, so as soon as we realized we weren't where we wanted to be, we got off. Instead of calling someone and getting help, we decided to take another bus home. Too make a long story short somehow after hours of driving around we finally got home. Now that i think about it, we never made it to the mall that day.

Another memory it brought up was not one of my favourite memories. Looking at the back door gate i remembered the first time i had a door malfunction. I think i was around thirteen and i was heading downtown to visit my dad. This time i knew what bus i was suppose to take, and i even knew where to get off when i got downtown. When i finally reached where i was suppose to get off i pulled the string and walked to the back door. When the bus came to a stop i opened the gate, but the door didn't open. I was terrified, what was i suppose to do now? The bus started moving forward, so i pulled the string again. When we got to the next stop, guess what? The door didn't open again. Eventually i went to the front and got off there. Then walked around big bad downtown for a while. For a long time after that i was terrified of the back door, but I'm happy to say that I'm over that fear now!

So hopefully you get to ride a vintage bus some time soon, and hopefully it brings back some good memories.

Don't be scared of the back!

After waiting in the cold for 10 minutes because my bus was late, the last thing I want to do is stand. I got on my bus and there was a mob of people clogging the front of the bus. I looked around them and there was at least 5 empty seats in the back. Seriously people you can go to the back of the bus, it's not that scary. I guess because they were scared it meant I could have a seat, but to get to them I would have to awkwardly squish my way through this mob. One of my least favourite activities is rubbing against strangers so to get to the seat was a problem.

I eventually made it past the mob by using my backpack as a bartering ram. I found a nice seat and enjoyed my ride. I looked around a bit and I couldn't figure out why people would be scared of the back. Sure it smells a bit weird, but the whole bus smells weird. It really makes my life much harder when you insist on standing in the front. If we're ever on the bus together, please move to the back. Thank you :)

Obstacle Bus

When I take the bus I have the good fortune of driving past a high school. Which means I have at least 30 kids on the bus heading to school. I have nothing wrong with kids going to school, in fact I'm one of them (but I go to college so that makes me way cooler.) The Problem I have with high school kids on the bus is, apparently no one has ever taught them how to sit on the bus.

Every day when I get on there is at least ten kids standing right in front of the door. It becomes very difficult to make it through the maze of children on days like today when I have two bags with me. Once you make it through the first obstacle, you now have to pass the kids who like to throw stuff at each other. Spit balls and paper air planes are the favourites to throw these days. Once you finally make it through these obstacles and find a seat some where at the back of the bus, you have to face the most challenging of obstacles. You have to put up with the "cool" kids who sit in the back. They love to talk really loud about last weekend's party, or the party thats coming up. I'll spare you the details but it's a lot  of talk about how they're going to, or have done something crazy at that big party. I tell you it is very challenging to sit through these conversations for 20 minutes.

So next time you find your self in one of these obstacle buses, put your head phones in, and don't be afraid to throw a few elbows!

The Bus Crew

Tuesday morning I was on the bus for 6 am so that I could be at school for 7.  So there I was waiting for my bus at 5:55am; This is also the earliest I’ve ever been up to wait for a bus.

On my way to school it was quite peaceful. The bus was relatively empty, and I sat at the back of the bus enjoying the great music of Zack Brown Band. At one stop, a group of 6 people all jumped on together, talking and laughing. I was quite jealous of them.  It was something that I have never seen before.  To me, it looked like a group that all got on together and spread joy throughout the number 58 bus.

When I removed my headphones from my ear I saw that they really were friends.  From hearing their conversations they seemed to know a lot about each other.  They laughed and joked around with the bus driver.  Then it hit me, these people were a bus crew. They get up obnoxiously early and spread their positive energy across a rather dull and tired bus-crew.  It got me thinking.

When I take the bus, at my usual time, there are always two people that wait at the bus stop with me.  Every time our bus comes we pretend we don’t know each other, get on the bus, and find are own seats. We completely ignore each other.  Seeing these people it makes me think that maybe I should talk to my fellow bus-mates.  Maybe we’ll become another bus crew, and annoy grumpy tired bus riders everywhere!

Not all bad

I complain a lot about the bus, and I often only share the negative stories I have, but Winnipeg Transit isn't all bad. I take the bus two, sometimes three times a day, for only about $60 a month, and with parking downtown, I'll take that every day.

Also as a 19 year old I often go out on weekends for an alcoholic beverage or ten, and the bus can be very handy when it comes to drinking. Every one knows drinking and driving is stupid and it can lead to some terrible things. That's why me and my friends try to take the bus when we can to the bars. Just last week we went down to Osborne village for a little pub crawl. We took the bus their, and cabbed back home, making sure we all got home safe.

Being environmentally friendly is a huge part of are society,  and I think that the bus is a great way to avoid unnecessary green house gasses going into are atmosphere. Think about if every one on your bus in the morning decided to take their car to work. Traffic would be at a stand still, and I'm sure mother nature would not be pleased with us.

Sure we see some pretty weird stuff, and have to sit beside creepy people when we ride the bus. But think about all the good the bus does for are city. Plus if you have a good sense of humour about it all, you can make a pretty cool blog :)

Take the good with the bad

When I forget to bring my Ipod on the bus, it can ruin my day. I get depressed when I do this, as the sound of a stranger sniffling their boogers just doesn't sit right with me. The sound of someone else's music blasting throughout the bus isn't my favourite either.

When I do bring my Ipod I try to keep it at a sound level that is comfortable for my fellow passengers. The last thing I would want to do is harm my hearing by playing my music too loud (I hope you got the sarcasm in that one) and more importantly, I don't want to disrupt my fellow bus riders with loud music.

On Wednesday, I had the good fortune of sitting beside a women who clearly loved Enrique Iglesias. You may ask "Daniel, how did you know she loved Enrique Iglesias?" Well, I had to listen to it for 45 minutes on my way to school. I personally am not a huge fan of Mr. Iglesias. Yes he is a gorgeous piece of man, but I don't care much for his music.

The good in this story comes from Monday morning. Usually a bus ride at 7:00 am isn't what I want to start my week, especially when I forget my Ipod. I took a seat near the back of the bus and made myself comfy. A few stops down the line another young man jumped on and took a seat beside me. He took out his Ipod, put his ear buds in, and started blasting music. Normally I would be upset with someone that obnoxious, but this time it was different. The beautiful sounds of Skrillex rang through out the bus, and it was glorious. I bounced up and down the whole way to school. When I got off, I thanked the young man for the nice start to the week. So if you decide to play your music loud enough for your neighbour to hear, make sure it's good music.

Bus Ridership

Being polite on the bus is important. You don't want to be the jerk that ruined someones day because you were rude on the bus. You also don't want to be rude and end up in some jerks blog about the bus. That's exactly what happened this week when two young men started fighting on my way to school this Thursday.

No one wants to be on the bus at 8 am, but some times it happens. unfortunately this happened to me this Thursday when I needed to be at school. So I waited at my bus stop, my bus came on time, I hopped on and found a comfy seat at the back. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at all this day, every one was nice, no ones music was too loud, just a very enjoyable bus ride. This all changed when I got downtown.

My bus stopped at Portage and Fort like always. A man hopped on who clearly was drunk, and probably hadn't slept yet. He was a good rider though, he found a seat and kept to him self. By this time the bus was pretty full, so people were standing. Another young man jumped on board, he had a work helmet so I assume he was a construction worker, he stood beside the drunk half asleep guy. I didn't see exactly what happened but from what I heard the construction workers back pack was hitting the drunk guy. All of a sudden the drunk guy stood up and starting punching the construction worker. The bus driver slammed the breaks, and other riders tried to break it up.

The bus driver kicked the drunk guy off the bus, and how convenient, it was at my stop. So off the bus I go, me and my drunk companion. I tried to avoid him by walking fast, but he caught up and asked me for a cigarette, I told him I didn't have any and kept walking.

The moral of this story is, don't be an idiot and fight on the bus.        

Go Bus Drivers!!!

So by now I'm sure you've heard about the generous bus driver that gave his shoe's to a homeless man on the side of Portage avenue. It jut goes to show that we do have some incredible people in this city, and fortunately for me this man was a bus driver!

So maybe next time you're on the bus, you can do something nice for someone. I'm not saying you have to give your shoes to a stranger, but maybe give your seat to someone who needs it more then you. Together we can make every ones bus ride a little more pleasant :)

If you haven't  heard of this story here's a link!!!!!!

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/Generous-bus-driver-gives-stranger-shoes-off-his-feet-170221726.html

Sticky Situation

This week has been especially weird for Daniel, but lets start at the bus stop where all of our journeys begin. On my way home from school I catch the bus on Portage and Fort. Let me tell you there is some weird people at that bus stop. I had a presentation that day so I was wearing a shirt and tie, personally I thought I looked fantastic, a guy waiting at the bus stop didn't think so. He started berating me on how I was too young to be wearing a shirt and tie, and that the corporations had got to me. After sharing his political views he then just started to insult me, I'll spare you the details on what he called me but it ended with calling me a "Suit." He then got on his bus and left. It was a great way to end my day, but it was just another adventure with Winnipeg Transit.

When my bus finally came I got on, found a seat, put my Ipod on and listened to my music. It took me a few seconds to realise that my seat was soaking wet. I was stuck in no man's land. My grey jeans were probably wrecked and showing the damage that this mysterious liquid had done. So I had a decision to make, do I stay and marinate in this liquid or do I get up and make a scene. I decided to stand up and try my best to dry off. I pathetically tried to get the mysterious liquid off me in the aisle, but before I knew it an old lady had taken my seat and even thanked me in the process. She was clearly oblivious to the soaking wet seat and just sat there smiling. She looked happy so I didn't say anything.

I jumped off at my stop and proceeded home. I laughed to my self and thought, "only on Winnipeg Transit could that happen." The bus can be a very unpleasent place if you want it to be, but I say make light of these sticky situations, even if the sticky situation is on your pants. There is no point in sitting on the bus looking all miserable, have fun with it. I assure you, you're ride will be much more pleasent.