A few nights ago, I was meeting some friends in downtown for dinner.  I made sure to check the Metro app before leaving the house in order to plan my trip accordingly.  We were meeting up at 8:30, and that’s a rather crucial time to catch a bus.  After peak hours, buses come much less often, and it would be nearly another 30 minutes before the next bus would come.

When the Metro app indicated that the next bus was four minutes away, I began my descent downstairs and to the stop.  That should leave me with plenty of time to round the corner and cross 3rd street to catch the 16.  As soon as I got to my front gate, the app told me the bus was only two minutes away.  Hmm, it doesn’t take me two minutes to walk from my apartment to the front gate.  This bus must be going fast!

I got to the corner of 3rd and Normandie.  The bus was just a few blocks away, and I didn’t have a walk signal.  I wasn’t too concerned.  There are always lots of people waiting to board and exit at this stop.  I should have plenty of time to hurry across and catch the bus.

As the bus sped through its green light, I noticed that nobody was waiting to get on.  Nobody!  I have never seen this stop empty of people.  That means I’m going to have to hurry across the street, as I won’t have boarding passengers to buy me time.

I ran across the street as fast as I could, nearly colliding with a woman in the process.  I approached the bus door, still running, and proceeded to board.  However, there was a problem.  The driver started to drive away as I was boarding!  I managed to jump into the bus as it was still moving and the driver began to close the door.

The driver proceeded to make comments about me (not TO me) to another passenger that stood directly next to her.  She told the passenger how stupid and crazy I was for doing that.  She said several times that she didn’t see me running up to the bus.

I know that running for the bus is a dumb move, and taking a running leap into a moving bus is even dumber.  However, it seems to me that there were several things on the driver’s part that trumped my stupid behavior.  Why was she pulling away from the curb with the door open?  Why was a passenger standing over the yellow line?  Obviously, he was causing a distraction if the driver wasn’t checking her mirrors before departing from the stop.  Throughout the drive, she continued to speed, just as she did while approaching my stop.

I tapped my card and sat down while feeling like a bundle of nerves.  I didn’t intend on jumping into a moving bus.  That was more adrenaline than I’m used to for a weeknight!  I figured that the open doors to the bus indicated that it was ready to board.  It didn’t help to listen to the driver say these things about me either to another passenger.  I’m not good at holding my tongue, but I did here.  The driver is the queen of her castle, and I didn’t want her to kick me off the bus for arguing with her.  I sat back quietly in my seat while watching her continue her conversation until the passenger exited at Alvarado.

A passenger stood directly next to the driver throughout the ride, clearly distracting her from the road.

But enough about that.  Can we just talk about how awesome it was that I jumped into a moving bus?