M20 Redux
So, I recently became a NYC bus rider when I realized the
M20 takes me to every place I need to go to - down Seventh Avenue and back up
Eight Avenue. As everything in NYC
it has a character and charm all it’s own. Here’s what I’ve observed.
Going Uptown.
My Favorite Bus Driver. I met my FBD when I got on the bus behind a woman who was
carrying a cup cake. When asked
why, she told FBD it was her birthday and a colleague had given it to her. Well, he had the entire bus sing “happy
birthday.” I saw him the next day
and said how nice that was. Of
course, he said, got to keep life light.
I would chat with him whenever he drove the bus. It wasn’t until he turned toward me one
time when I realized that he was very attractive. Apparently he’s many women’s FBD. Because I have
seen various women at different bus stops hand him a bag of cooked food for his
dinner and they do not even get on the bus! His schedule has changed so I don’t see him regularly but
he’s always friendly and nice – to everyone.
Middle School.
I once got on the M20 in the late afternoon and sat in a seat in the
back. At the next stop there was
an implosion of Middle Schoolers.
I watched their frenetic dynamic and tried to figure out who was in what
group but I didn’t get a sense of it BECAUSE EVERYONE WAS MEAN TO
EVERYONE. There was one kid who
really wanted attention and was trying to be friendly to people but everyone
was particularly mean to him. I
sat next to a girl who probably wasn’t on the peak of the pyramid and when she
said something mean to him. I
turned to her and said quietly, be nice.
Just be nice. I could tell
she absorbed what I said. I got
off at the next stop and made a vow that if I ever got on the Middle School bus
again, I would say the same thing to the entire crowd. Not that they’d listen, but maybe one
kid for a short time would absorb it.
I’m sure I would be called the crazy lady but maybe life would be a
little easier for one person for a little while.
Bus apps. There
are now a few bus apps and a site online that will tell you where on the route
your bus is. I generally use this
when I go uptown, and I can plan my exit from work. However, there’s a strange phenomena. The app and site will tell you the bus
is making its way uptown and then a minute later when you refresh it, the bus
will disappear. I was told it had something to do with the closeness of the
World Trade Center and how signals get blocked. I’m not sure if this is true because sometimes the bus will
reappear and sometimes not.
Strange.
Going Downtown.
Tourists. The
M20 is the bus you take if you are midtown and want to go to the World Trade
Center. Apparently all of the
guidebooks from every part of the world tell you to get off at Chambers
Street. This however is not the
closest stop to the WTC. In any
group, the person who speaks English the best will confer with the bus driver
and I hear him say Vesey and North End.
It seems time and again, they don’t quite trust the bus driver or even
what they are hearing. For they
all get off at Chambers. I’ve
tried to help tourists and tell them to wait 3 more stops but to no avail. Apparently the only trustworthy
information is from their guidebooks.
Which isn’t wrong, at Chambers you have a visual of the WTC
looming. It just always
makes me laugh and it never fails.
There are more stories on the M20, when they manifest I will be sure to add them.
