M20 Redux

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.