Stories and Dreams of UUSS on the Bus

A middle-aged man with a worried face and calloused hands sat next to me on the bus.  Seeing my book, he asked if I was a math professor.  I told him no, I was just a student, returning late in life to study a subject I’d always wanted to know more about.  He told me he was a dishwasher, but he’d just enrolled at SCCC, using his GI Bill benefits.  “I’ve been out of school a long time,” he confided, “and I’m especially scared about math, but I don’t want to be a dishwasher forever.”  I empathized, recalling how hard it had been for me to go back to the classroom as a student after decades away, the self-conscious oldest person in the room.   Closing my book, I shared what I knew from my part-time work at SCCC as a tutor.  I told him that he would not be alone, that the college has many older students and a great free tutoring program.   Maybe it was my imagination, but the tension in his face seemed to ease a bit as we conversed and connected.

CDTA divides its riders into two groups:  “choice riders” like me and “transit-dependent riders” like my seatmate.   When the weather is bad or my schedule is busy, I can just hop in my car instead, but encounters like this have deepened my appreciation of challenges others face.  Exhausted young mothers struggle with folding up strollers or elderly juggle shopping bags and a cane.  I can offer to carry bags onto the bus or a stabilizing hand on the stroller while the mother juggles the child in her arms and fishes out a fare card.

I started taking the bus because it was free to me as a student and a convenient way to get some work done while commuting or sometimes just to mindfully meditate.  I am currently taking a break from studies, so it is no longer free. Nonetheless, I continue trying to take the bus when I can—I have embraced it as a spiritual practice, an opportunity to share a little in the hardships faced by those less fortunate and to connect with them as kindred spirits, a way to contribute in a small way to both economic justice and climate justice.   If there were more choice riders, CDTA would have the resources to offer more frequent service, which would greatly ease the lives of the transit-dependent.  It would also be a “virtuous cycle” because more frequent service would attract more choice riders. In addition, if there were enough riders getting on at any particular bus stop (e.g., Union and Wendell), CDTA would consider installing a bus shelter with seats there.  Imagine standing out in the blazing sun, pouring rain, or blowing blizzard conditions as the transit-dependent often do.

What can you do?  Your life likely has different opportunities and constraints than mine, but here are a few possibilities to make a difference:  for $40, youth (up to age 17) can get a Summer Fun pass for unlimited free CDTA rides from July 1 through August 31; ask your employer to consider the universal access program or other tax-advantaged transit programs; take your young kids on a “bus adventure” to Albany or Saratoga Springs (kids under 46” ride free with an adult).

I also have dreams about UUSS members riding together to make a collective statement on the bus.  Maybe the next time there is a demonstration or parade or event in Albany, we could ride the bus together, perhaps all wearing our “Standing on the Side of Love” shirts.  Buses have long been part of social movements—from Rosa Parks to the Freedom Riders to the buses that regularly rolled into my hometown, Washington, DC, bearing passengers passionate to demonstrate for their cause.  As a child, I grew up riding the buses with folks from all walks of life, executives in suits and custodians in coveralls—I’d love to see that happen in the Capital District too.  UUSS on the bus, anyone?  Talk to me if you are interested. – Mary O’Keeffe, mathcircle@gmail.com