No More DART...

My DART pass expired at the same time we moved. I gotta tell you that I don't miss riding DART....at all. I don't miss getting up early and waiting in the heat or the cold or the rain for my bus. I don't miss late busses or people throwing bleach on each other. I don't miss smelly people and crazy people. But I will miss talking about them! My commute is across the street!

stink...

I cannot wait to be able not to use dart on a daily basis. Yesterday I boarded my usual bus home and it stunk....bad. It smelled of a gerry curl smeared port-o-potty on a 100 degree day in Texas. It was horrible. Now I am on my way in to work and the dude behind thinks he is the next P-Diddy. Oh well. Just about another two months on dart then afterwards no more commute!

Get out of my seat…

Every morning, for the past year and a half, I have been sitting in the same seat on my DART bus. I take the 7:39am 205/183 express and I always sit on the right side, third row isle. Not today. This idiot woman takes my seat because I am nice enough to let the ladies on first. Well this woman is now on my shit list. She didn’t even say thank you when I said “after you!” It just frustrates me. Luckily the weather this morning was beautiful. I woke up in a great mood and fully rested and ready to go. So I was not about to let her ruin my morning.

Getting by without a car...

There was a CNN poll that asked “Can you get by without a car?” 15% said yes and 85% said no (out of 53,393 votes). What they should be asking is “Do you WANT to get by without your car?” I have a feeling that the percentages would stay relatively the same. Living in cites with mass transit is really a blessing. Cities like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco have it made! Dallas and Atlanta have very sophisticated, young mass transit systems that, while not near the scale of NYC or Chicago, get people to and from many destinations stress free, quick, and cheap. I know many people who would rather die than give up “their God given right to drive.” And these are people who cannot really afford $4 gasoline (really $3). Why spend 200+ dollars a month when you can spend 50 a month for a DART pass? Just makes no sense to me to live in a city with busses and trains and not use them. Everyone complains about gas prices and I admit that they are high for the United States. But take a look at how much money it takes to fill up a tank of gas in Europe. They pay in upwards to 10 dollars a liter. That’s right, a liter, not gallon. Basically all I am saying is that if you live in a mass transit city then use it and stop bitching about how much gas is. Gas is high, that is a fact that isn’t going to go away.

The 44...

Ron starts a new job today at Perot Systems. Well, not a new job per se…he is going back to Perot. He decided that he wanted to ride DART to work to save money and save gas. I told him that we should do a trial run on the bus that will take him to and from the office. So yesterday we got on the route 44. This is the route for lazy people. We really didn’t notice it on the way up but on the return trip it got annoyingly funny. There was a stop every 5 feet! And there were people at every stop! I was stunned. The ride was stop and start, stop and start. A little ridiculous if you ask me! DART could shave off about 10 minutes on that route if they cut every other stop. Just annoying.

In Philly...

On my way home this evening I could not help but overhear a conversation two men were having about the difference between Dallas and Philadelphia.  Both men where obviously from Philly from the context of their conversation.  They like Dallas and stated it was less ghetto.  I must agree.  I have been to Philadelphia many times and have enjoyed each trip but yea, it can get a little ghetto.  What really caught my ear was that one man stated that everything is so much more expensive in Philly compared to Dallas.  I would have to agree with that.  But did you know that a loaf of bread will cost you 2.50 and that a vile of crack will run you 2 dollars?  3 viles will be 5 dollars.  What a bargain.  

Lost...

Last night I was on my way home on the 183. Considering the crappy week I had I was so pleased to see the bus on time. That was a short lived blessing. The drivers are rotated about every six months or so. Apparently a rotation had taken place. The new driver had never driven the 183 Express route before. Instead of getting on the tollway at Alpha and 635 she kept going straight on Inwood. Of course everyone had to say something. She explained the issue and the crowd understood so we had to direct her back onto the tollway. She had never driven a N.Dallas route ever. One man yelled at her and said “LET ME DRIVE” to which she responded “Sure! You can go on down to DART and fill out an application.” I was a nice ride overall and as I exited the vessel I said good night and thank you to which she responded “you have a blessed night.” Today I drove in. I had no problems getting to the office but I fear the trek home will be a massacre.

To the back of the bus...

Yesterday was a terrible day for me in general. Just a frustrating day at work mainly. I leave the office and head for the bus to go home. During the hour I stood waiting, there was supposed to be four buses come by. Nothing. Finally a bus shows and was full. I found a seat at the very back of the bus. I usually do not sit at the back and haven’t sat there on a local bus in a long time. I sit down and was obviously the minority but that doesn’t bother me. People chatting, laughing, complaining about the wait and traffic. One man pulls out a radio and we listen to the likes of Marvin Gaye, Gladys Night, and Teddy Pendergrass. One man was talking about a stabbing that happened in his neighborhood. Another chimes in and reminds him that the victim was stabbed three times. Then we heard that dreaded sound that I know all too well; the sound of metal crunching. A car next to the bus plowed into the car in front of them. We kept on going. The woman sitting near me told me that bus had hit her a few years ago, side-swiping her on her way to her grandmother’s funeral and driving her mother’s car. At that point I decided that my day really wasn’t that bad and enjoyed the ride. After an hour and a half commute (usually it is 30 minutes) I finally made my way home in much better spirits than when I left the office. I walked the dog, had some lasagna, drank a beer, took a shower, watched some Desperate Housewives, and went to bed.

DART Lazies...

There was an article this morning in the paper about people complaining that the trains are to cramped and they have no place to sit. Poor poor babies! People are so damn lazy! Mass transit is an option, not a requirement for people in this region. If you want to sit on your ride to work either get to the station earlier, later, or drive. This ticks me off! As more and more people opt to utilize our growing transit system things are getting more crowded. I don’t complain. Places like New York and London are crowded all the time. It is just the way things are. However, these yokels around here want the same comfort on a train as their own vehicle provides. First of all, I have no sympathy for the folks who attempt to escape the sinister ways of an ever expanding downtown. They buy cookie-cutter houses that are within 1 foot of each other and send their children to “good schools.” They are just fooling themselves, sinister ways are everywhere and they cannot escape reality-no matter how hard you try. Anyway, that is for another blog I suppose. What kills me is that these people move out to places within 20 minutes of the Oklahoma border and complain that their commute on DART takes to long into Downtown. At this point the farthest station is Parker Road-way the heck up there. That commute from Parker to Pearl Station takes about 30 or so minutes. If they drove that distance during rush hour then you are looking at over an hour. So they are unhappy that they have to stand sometimes. Get some exercise people! If you are working downtown then chances are that you sit at a desk for 8 hours. I am so sick of people being so lazy and complain that the trains do not have enough seating for everyone. Each train car seats about 75 people and can accommodate another 60-70 standing. During rush hour there are at least 3 cars attached. This amounts to a trip capacity of over 400+ and with the rush hour trains running every 10 minutes…..you do the math. People are just so damn lazy I just wanna scream! Another complaint was that the seats are too small. Well, I am sorry; this ain’t first class on British Airways! This is mass transit!! If the seats are to small then the likelihood of your ass being too big is about 99.9%. There are several strategies for claiming a seat on a rush hour train. God forbid that lazy people should have to think, much less strategize. Sheesh!

I Was Violated...

This morning, as I made my way to the office, I was violated! The obviously gay homosexual sitting next to me (who is also trying to cling to his youth by bleaching his hair) touched my butt. I am not kidding! As I was getting up to exit at my stop he touched my arse. This could have been on accident but somehow I doubt it. My butt was looking good in the jeans I had on so why would anyone not wanna touch my butt? HA! Anyway, I turned to look at him expecting a quick apology but none was given. I through him a dirty and disgusted look, the look that is reminiscent of a Miranda Priestly, and exited my mass transit vessel. Dirty old queen! There is only on man who is allowed to touch me like that on purpose and that is Ron. How ballsy can one guy be? To touch another man’s toosh and look at me like he meant to do it takes major guts. I can understand doing this on accident when the trains/buses are full during rush hour or something. I mean, in New York City you can board the Lexington Avenue Express during rush hour and achieve orgasm before you get to your stop from the crowd of people pressed up against you. But when it isn’t crowded there should be no reason to fondle anyone.