getting places

I've been wanting to write about public transit for a while but it's something that seems mundane when I try to put any structure to it. It's like if you were to ask me about a morning run--there are so many things I find interesting about running every day but once I start to talk about them I realize that they're probably only interesting to me, and I sift out the only things I can think of that might make sense to someone else--"Oh, it was good. I had a little bit of back pain though"--instead of saying "well at first I really didn't want to be running because the wind was against me and I don't like being windburned but then I saw the person who takes the money out of the parking meters and I think the contraption they deposit the quarters into is interesting and I think that homeless guy lives on that park bench because I see him every morning and the traffic is much different at 7am then 8am and that's strange to me and I feel less guilty running through Harvard Square than walking because the homeless people don't expect me to have spare change when I'm running and the river is really pretty in the morning although I'm afraid of getting run over by bicycles so sometimes I run on the apartment side of the street which is interesting too because there are sprinklers that I can cool off in and I wonder why none of these parks have water fountains and the mile between these two bridges seems to be way longer than a mile and a bird has built her nest under the bridge...", on and on for five to seven miles of distractions I found while running.

If you stuck through those sentences I figure you might stick through a few more about other ways of getting from point A to point B.

The thing I find the most strange about living here is how close together everything is. Work, in the city of Cambridge, is about 2.5 miles away from my apartment, in the city of Somerville. Church, in Medford, is three miles away. The middle of Boston is about 4 miles away. In the South cities have gaps in between them, while here they run into each other unceremoniously.

I live near the Somerville/Cambridge city line, so I have seen at least four of these on the streets I frequent. I wonder, why not merge them all into larger cities? Is it really that different to live in Somerville than it is to live in Cambridge? (Two girls on the bus today seemed to think so, at least, as I overheard that one was sad to be moving away from Cambridge to an apartment in Davis Square, which is in Somerville, about a mile north of the Cambridge city line.)

The density of the city is also different than anything I'm used to. I feel like the entire city of Clemson, people, campus (well, minus the farmland), businesses, and all, could probably be squished together and contained in about three city blocks here. There are two grocery stores and probably about 50 restaurants and small businesses within easy walking distance from me. It's overwhelming, really.

It is amazing how long it takes to get to places that are so close together! Work, which I could run to in well under 25 minutes, takes me 30 minutes to get to every day. Getting to the USS Constitution, only 3.7 miles away (which I could probably run in 35 minutes) will take 41 minutes using public transit. Do I want to run everywhere? No. I just think it is interesting to think that I'm faster than a train at getting places sometimes.

There's just a whole different mentality you have to take with public transit, a certain amount of patience and flexibility that you have to develop. The train or bus is not always going to be on time, and there's nothing you can do about it but wait for it or catch the next one, so you never can plan on being anywhere at a precise time as you might be able to do with a car when you have control over the route you take and the speed you travel. One of my roommates got stuck in the subway tunnel for three hours. It happens sometimes. Several times the bus I've been on time and waiting for has driven straight past me, and I've had to wait for the next one. It's infuriating, but what can you do? And everything takes so much planning. Getting from A to C can be a totally different route than from B to C, even if B seems to lie directly in the middle of the two. Buses may take more direct routes but may come too early or too late, while trains will be consistent but may take longer, so you have to weigh route decisions carefully.

And it may be quicker to walk, or wait for a bus, but what if it is pouring down rain? I'm only home tonight because there was a chance of strong storms and hail that I wasn't willing to risk. I was supposed to be going to a demo night at MIT, but that requires about 15 minutes of walking outside and a 10 minute subway ride, and those 15 minutes in the wind and rain (and possibly hail!) would have been enough to leave me dripping wet by the time I got there. So, no demos for me. The weather is a constant factor in deciding how to get where, and whether getting there safe and sound is even feasible.

There's also the continual variability of the driver (friendly? cranky? overly aggressive in driving?) and the variety of the other passengers that keeps things entertaining. The homeless and/or drunk folks are often the most chatty. If there's a sporting event, the whole train or bus might be cheering together. I think that the T is interesting because it might very well be the most casually social place in the city. Despite the general reserved nature of the folks in New England (people raise their eyebrows when I say "good morning" to them on my way to work) it's not uncommon to strike up a conversation with a stranger at the bus stop or subway. This is especially interesting because so many different people ride the T--different nationalities, socioeconomic levels, and age groups. So it's probably also the most diverse place in the city.

I am so glad I didn't bring my car here because I would have been a nervous wreck trying to drive in all the traffic and general chaos of a city, but I do miss being able to go where I want when I want to and not having to take into account transit schedules, maps, and weather before I go anywhere beyond walking distance. It'll be another two and a half weeks before I am reunited with Big Red (my car) but I am certainly looking forward to it!