Bus Riding

Have you ridden the bus lately? I take that back. Anyone reading this, living outside a major metropolitan area rode the bus lately?

Since Reno got coated in 8" to 12" of snow over Thanksgiving weekend I have parked the bike and have been taking the bus to work. There's no better way to really get a feel for the current state of affairs in our country then taking the bus. This past week has been an interesting eye-opener for sure.

Catching the bus to get to work means getting up at 5:00am to get dressed and showered to meet the bus at 5:45am. While this seems awfully early, Reno isn't blessed with the massive population of Chicago or New York to support busses coming and going every ten minutes. In fact, the bus I'm taking only comes once an hour, which means if I miss it then I'm VERY late for work.

The number 3 bus lumbers towards the City Center bus terminal picking up people along the way. Surprisingly out by our apartment there are usually three or four other people on the bus besides myself. We pick up another four or five people before arriving at the City Center. It is now a little past 6:00am in the morning.

The City Center is a massive mixing pot of the working class of Reno. Construction workers with jangling leather tool belts wait in line next to Spanish speaking hotel maids and fast food workers. The arrival of the number 3 bus is synchronized almost perfectly with the arrival of the number 1 Virginia Avenue bus. This bus is filled, usually with people standing, holding the grab bars. I jump off the number 3 bus and shuffle past the late shift workers heading home and ranch hands going to the outskirt of Reno to hop on the number 1 bus.

In Reno there are no white collar workers riding the bus. In the past week I've listened in on countless conversations between strangers on the bus. One morning two guys are discussing which companies are hiring temporary help for the holiday season. They hopped off the bus together as it was apparent that neither of them currently had jobs. Another eavesdropping session revolved around which local motels had the cheapest weekly rates ($160/week was the last I heard). This morning I heard two guys grumbling about taking time off for the holidays since it meant they would lose some days from their paycheck. For a town that has 2.6% unemployment this doesn't seem like happy times to me.

Let's do the math here... At $8/hour and a 40 hour week a person can make $320. Take away 30% in taxes and you're down to $224. Take away $160/week in rent and you're down to $64. Take away bus rides are you are down to $49. That's not much money left for food, savings, kids, etc...

I don't want to paint too bleak a picture or scare you off from public transportation, but I am starting to see a phenomenon here. There seems to be an ever increasing division in the United States between the "Haves" and the "Have Nots". Some people describe this as the Well Curve. It might not be apparent to me or you by reading the paper or watching the evening news (it seems our society is getting pretty deaf to bad news) but it can clearly be seen from riding the bus. I don't know what the solution is but I do think the gaps in our social system need to be addressed soon. The article linked mentions that the Well Curve is often seen before a transition occurs. Whatever the transition may be, the recent uproar about the election would lead you to believe that many people are pushing for something to happen. There's no silver bullet but job training, education, and fair salaries are a start. Thoughts?