Bus Riding Basics

"The wheels on the bus go round and round

All through the town."

~ a song favored by preschoolers

Washington, D.C.'s subway system can only take you so far.  Once you exit the Metro station, your transportation choices dwindle to walking, hailing a cab or learning how to ride the bus, if you wish to go "all through the town."

New friends at church invited Tim and I to attend their small group's potluck dinner last night.  We were delighted to accept their invitation until we realized that our friends' home was located 1-1/2 miles from the nearest Metro station.  Walking in an unfamiliar neighborhood after dark did not sound wise to us nor did we wish to fork over the money needed to take a taxi.  So, we chose the bus.

We've ridden Metrobuses before, but all those trips were made during daylight hours.  This was our maiden voyage after dark.

If you want to experience success in using the bus system, you've got to do your homework prior to your trip.  Tim delegated the job of trip navigator to me.  Using Trip Planner on the Metro's web site, I plugged in Ballston Metro Station as our beginning point since Tim and I planned to rendezvous at there after his work.  Next, I entered our friends' address, along with the date and time of the potluck.  Voila!  Trip Planner recommended that we take Bus 25A, departing one block west of the Ballston station at 6:30 p.m.

Sounds easy when you're viewing the Trip Planner route online; however, following the plan was not so simple!

Wrapping my warm baking dish of apple crisp up in a towel and stuffing it into a carrying bag, I hustled to catch the subway at the station near our apartment.  Of course, this was the evening rush hour.  Standing room only!  All the Metro subway cars were crammed with commuters on the blue line and once again when I transferred to the orange line at Rosslyn.  Twice I fought my way aboard each train, jousting like a medieval knight with my fellow travelers for space.  Have you ever tried to maintain an appropriate personal space in the midst of a crowded subway car while balancing a 9"x13" glass baking pan in one arm and using your other hand to grip a pole high above your head?  Believe me, this is not an easy feat!

When the subway spit me out at Ballston, I happily handed over the apple crisp to Tim to carry.  We exited the station with fifteen minutes to spare before our bus would arrive.  However, without daylight, we walked a block in the wrong direction before we realized our error.  We made our way back past the Ballston station to what we thought was the proper bus stop for Bus 25A, but after waiting a few minutes alone at the stop, we wondered if we were in the right place.

Someone overheard our conversation and directed us back to the station once again where we found a whole fleet of buses lined up to accept passengers.  Paying attention to the number of the bus and its final destination displayed in lights above its windshield, Tim and I flew down the line of buses, searching for our bus, knowing all the while that if we missed its departure, another Bus 25A would not arrive for an hour. 

With seconds to spare, we found it and climbed aboard Bus 25A bound for the Pentagon, after first asking the driver if this bus was headed down Carlin Springs Road.  "Yes," the bus driver answered as he closed the door and engaged the gears.  Gripping the baking dish, we lurched our way to the back of the bus to claim two vacant seats. 

Our anxiety eased when the bus driver turned south from Fairfax Drive onto Glebe Road and once more onto Carlin Springs.  Yet, my tension returned when I noticed that the driver was bypassing stops listed on my printout.  I sent Tim up to the driver to ask whether this bus would, in fact, stop at Carlin Springs and Greenbrier, the point my printout stated we needed to exit the bus. 

Meanwhile, I pulled the Google Maps app up on my cell phone to see where the pulsing blue dot representing our bus was going.  Yes!  The bus was headed in the right direction, but Tim returned to our seats to tell me that the bus driver had never heard of Greenbrier Street.  Yikes! 

The pulsing blue dot on my GPS was virtually hurtling towards the Greenbrier intersection as I internally began to yell, "Stop the bus!"  Luckily, a commuter across the aisle reached up above his window to pull the cord, signaling the driver that a stop was requested.  Tim and I dashed down the aisle after this guy and hopped off the bus steps practically on his heels.  As the bus driver pulled away from the curb, we asked the man if he could direct us to Greenbrier Street.  "Sure," he said, "this is it!"

And sure enough, when we looked up at the street sign a few feet away, we read Greenbrier Street and Carlin Springs Road. 

So, what did we learn from this experience?
1.  Do your homework ahead of time by using online tools for the Metro system.
2.  Give yourself extra time to make connections.
3.  Ask for help from fellow travelers.
4.  Pay attention to bus numbers and final destination points.
5.  Verify the route with the driver when you board the bus.
6.  If you are fortunate to have GPS on your cell, use it.
7.  Pull the signal cord to alert the driver that a stop is requested.
8.  Pray without ceasing that you arrive as planned in Step 1.

The potluck was so much fun that we failed to notice the time and missed the bus for our return trip.  Luckily and perhaps this should be listed as point 9, we cadged a car ride home from another couple we met at the party.