A View To A Ride

In taking public transportation, you hope that the bus or train comes right away. However, whether you wait a little or a long while, you must wait- and you strain to recognize the signs that your ride is coming. There are the timetables, but who knows how reliable they may be on any given occasion.

On the subway, there's a couple of good indications. You can hear it a little at first, and then it's deafening. At the same time, you can feel a breeze coming through the tunnel from the train barreling in. This can actually precede the noise.

On the street, waiting for the bus, it can be a lot harder. There are many noises and sights which can obscure indications of the bus coming. This is somewhat less true overnight, when the night owl buses are some of the few vehicles on the road. Even if you're watching hard, it may not come into sight until it's there at the intersection, or even pulling up next to your stop. Many times, however, you catch sight of something the right shape off in the haze. Parked cars and traffic can make it hard to see, but it will at times be visible. It may not be the color you're expecting, due to some bus ads, but usually is orange for a local or red for a rapid.

But there it is! Then you know that your itinerary is intact, and you'll make it to where you're going. Other times, the absence of that square flash of orange is the harbinger of doom telling you that it's all over, and you're not going to make it. You can't prove a negative though, so you hope and hope as long as it's possible to do so. And that's the story of watching for your ride.