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Riding Public Transportation


It has been 15 years since The Husband and I moved out of the San Francisco Bay Area, which, depending on where we want to go, a 30-minute to two hour-or-so drive away. Lately we have been wandering a bit further into the Bay Area maze. Molly the Cat probably wonders what has gotten into us. She, after all, gets stuck indoors when the humans are at play.

The increased number of offensive drivers on the freeway has made driving no longer fun, so we've been trying out BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to get beyond San Jose. The nearest BART station is about an hour's drive to the north of us. It's not too much of a white-knuckle drive to get there.

Right now the cost for our tickets is equivalent to about a tank of gas. Totally worth it. No fuss, no stress.  Looking out the train window as we headed east away from Oakland, I watched cars on the highway swish frantically pass each other.

In a few months I'll turn 65 and be eligible for the senior discount. Hurrah!


A lot of artwork is on display along the tracks between Fremont and Oakland, at least on the west side. Graffiti blends into murals into graffiti into murals.



Today is Our World Tuesday, where I'm participating. Here's the link. Grazie, OWT administrators. 





Comments

  1. Public transportation is better than traffic, definitely.

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    Replies
    1. It's funny how once we moved here, we dragged our feet about going afar, even when Mama was still in the health of things.

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  2. Does it take a tank of gas to get there? I wish I had that option, even the bus is too far away up a big hill for me to get to but I do like driving despite the preponderance of idiots on the road.
    A fall birthday, how fun.

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    1. Our tickets on Saturday totaled $32 and some change for the both of us which is about a full tank for Eliza. I'm looking forward to when tickets will be cheaper for us. Maybe we'll go up to San Francisco more than not at all.

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    2. Round trip tickets for two people? Dang, that's pretty good especially since you know they'll get cheaper. I think you can manage more than not at all.

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  3. Cool murals! And I agree - public transport is much better.

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    1. I thought the graffiti were more images than acronyms which surprised me. That's a good thing. Even better is if communities would let these artists do their work legitimately on the fences.

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  4. I may be unusual but I HATE buses! A few months ago one of our local MPs got together with the area big transport company to provide free bus passes for those women who should be entitled to one but won't qualify until they are 66 because the government upped the pension age from 60 - I now fall into that category and got my pass in June so I've been using it on Saturdays to go into town as it saves me a bit on fuel, however waiting for a bus to get there, stopping at every stop on the way there, and waiting for the bus to come home takes an absolute age when I could be there and back in half the time if I drove down. I must admit though that the pass came in handy when I went on the Coronation Street tour in July - I used the tram system then, two each way and all for free :)

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    1. Because I only use public transit occasionally, the waiting doesn't bother me. There was a time when I took buses daily and I did sigh and growl about delays, crowdedness, and waiting for what seemed forever.

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  5. I would do the same thing and totally understand nuts on the freeway. We have to travel on the 401 through Toronto, and the nuts on the road make for a stressful journey but there are no trains or buses where we need to go(for my infusion). I had read that the 401 is one of the worst in the world which I find hard to believe given how people drive in China, Indonesia and Brazil for example. I’m glad you found a nice way to get into the city.

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    1. We only have two-lane highways in and out of our town. With the population increasing, so increases traffic jams and accidents around here. It's not going to get better any time soon since local and state governments say there's no money to expand the highways.

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  6. Public transport is probably the only thing I miss living here. In Vancouver we used to take buses and trains everywhere, or bicycled, and didn't need a car at all. It took us quite a while to get used to the idea that we had to drive to go anywhere.

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    1. That's what I liked about living in San Francisco. We have a bus system but the hours are limited. I'm thinking again that it would be nice to have a motor scooter.

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  7. I wish more cities had thorough public transit like the BART. Good for people and the environment!

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    1. Smaller cities, too. I don't relish buying a new used car which I hope will be a little more later than sooner.

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Thanks for the good cheer. :-)

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