Public Transportation

Maybe I'm a fan of public transportation because I never had it growing up. We lived in the middle of nowhere, and you had to drive 30 minutes to get to the next town that had a decent movie theater and real stores. So you can imagine how many hours my family spent in the car (an hour every day from middle school to high school...). NOT fun.

When I got to college, the fact that I could WALK to town was a miracle. Within a 20 minute radius, we had a CVS, lots of restaurants, a movie theater, a hospital, an art museum, several upscale clothing stores...all in walking distance! This was when I decided that I didn't want to live in the country when I grew up. Yes, it's a beautiful place to visit, but I've got too much to do and see to spend all that time behind the wheel.

In college, for two of my off-terms (like summer breaks but not necessarily in the summertime), I lived with my grandmother in New York City. This 80-year-old woman has lived in the city for over 50 years, and never got a driver's license. Why? Because she doesn't need it! She walks at least a mile every day, even if it's just walking from store to store in her neighborhood or visiting friends nearby. And then there's the Subway*. New York's subway is so spread out that you can reach all 5 boroughs (well, I guess a ferry to get to Staten Island), and it is open all the time! I didn't have my car when I was living with her, so I learned how to use the Subway very quickly; otherwise I wasn't going anywhere! I loved the fact that I could just get on a train and read a book or chat with a friend without having to focus on the road or sit in traffic. I love multi-tasking, so if I can finish my latest romance novel while on my way to a date, I'll take that.

So I was very happy to move to another city, DC, that has public transportation. Now WMATA isn't perfect: there is always track work which slows everything down; the stations actually CLOSE at night; you can easily wait 20 minutes for a train. But it's very handy to have when you're going from one end of DC to another, or you want to grab drinks with friends but don't feel comfortable driving home. And while I rarely take buses, those too are quite handy to have when you're going across town (plus they're cheaper than the Metro).

I hate driving (I don't like anything I'm not perfect at, now that I think about it...), and my "time is money" outlook makes me try to be as efficient as possible. So maybe that's why I'm such a fan of public transportation. But it  is good for the environment, too! Less carbon dioxide released to perpetuate climate change! So the next time you have the option to take public transit, go for it: it'll give you time to catch up on the news and at the same time you'll be doing a good deed for the Earth.

*I know the New York Subway has been damaged due to Hurricane Sandy, but I have no doubt that the city will get the Subway up and running and in top shape so it works like new.