tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3664406919021663291.post-36703978473256461522008-04-08T10:17:00.000-04:002008-04-08T10:17:00.000-04:002008-04-08T10:17:00.000-04:00When I lived in Mt. Lookout years ago, I made a concerted effort to ride the bus (to my work in E Walnut Hills), due to the fact the there was a stop right on the square, steps from my place.<BR/>It was enjoyable for several reasons: met new people in the neighborhood (felt like we were a real community, that something in common - supporters of mass transit), saved money, time, and headaches of driving my own car through rush-hour hell, and was able to spend the commute time doing whatever I wanted (reading, observing the passing neighborhoods, talking with fellow ciitzens, etc.).<BR/>The negatives: buses are never pretty (reek of exhaust, while surrounded by molded, occasionally defaced, plastic hell), always felt a bit hypocritical (trading one combustion engine for another), and bus stops other places were bland, lonely spots (occasionally harboring less-than-friendly dwellers).<BR/><BR/>Of course, the hard and fast routes of rail transit, along with the environmental positive, not to mention, the romantic, idyllic quality they invoke, would have had me riding for every single errand around the city (not just to work and back), not to mention additional rides for it's innate entertainment value.Matt Hunter Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01891803494450719808noreply@blogger.com