MY VERY OFFICIAL SWIPER. NOW I KNOW WHAT WINTER BRINGS

I bought my CDTA Swiper online during the second week of November, figuring I'd get it and it would be effective for thirty days starting from the day they received my payment. Based on the dates on the back of the card, it actually didn't become effective until today.

I had to drive to work yesterday because I took too long fiddling around with my new self-bought Christmas present (a laptop; but you can read about my strange laptop love elsewhere). I felt guilty about driving for frivolous reasons since I was still officially engaged in my experiment; and my swiper wasn't even effective yet. Between that and the twenty-five pounds I've gained since last year, I thought it might be a good idea to leave my car at work and walk home.

I had to pick up my car today so it won't hamper the snow plow if Albany gets the 6-8 inches of snow tomorrow currently predicted on the news. Since I had a homework assignment to hand-in, I decided to make an afternoon of it. I waited a while for the 13 but it never came. I didn't check the schedule beforehand, so I don't really know if was running infrequently, or if it was not running at all. Too cold to stand there like a fool in my puffy blue coat, I walked to the downtown campus only to find the room where I needed to turn in my assignment was locked; but it was twenty-minutes of walking I really needed after sitting at my desk all day.

When I walked out of the building, the Number 12 going uptown was approaching.

Unfortunately, I don't run for buses anymore. Especially when I'm wearing a backpack. It makes me look like a dork, and I try to look like a dork as little as possible now. Because it was Saturday, however, my anti-dork sentiments left me waiting about a half hour or more for the next Number 12.

Not that waiting is unpleasant; but waiting in the cold at dusk between a campus abandoned for the weekend and Arbor Hill is sort of unpleasant.

The bus came and dropped me off at the last stop before the ramp to I-85. Trekking down the ramp in the cold, and then across the wide open parking lot with the wind puffing up my hood like a balloon, I groaned, thinking, "This is what awaits me this winter." I'm committed to doing it, though, even if it means getting a heavy pair of boots and a ski mask (they're not just for Halloween anymore!). Again, I assessed the difference between wanting to ride the bus and having to ride the bus, and I felt momentarily sympathetic for those people that don't have any other option - namely, poor, elderly, and disabled people.

More advantaged people ride CDTA, of course, but when you look at the statistics, the people using their services the most are the people who don't really have any other choice. It's an unfortunate set of circumstances. It creates a stigma that, as far as I can tell, hasn't really been erased locally. Public transportation is not only inconvenient, it's not pretty either. As status symbols go, I'm hard pressed to find CDTA usage on the list. Even a hybrid CDTA.