Minding my bus-ness.

It was January (2008), and I have a temper see. Victoria will attest. I know it's not good for me and I wish I had the fortitude to fix it. I remain uncertain if I am proud or humiliated about my action.

Anyway, I yelled, or maybe shouted is a better term.

My first bus ride had arrived downtown at 7:57 by my watch and the transfer bus's driver had already parked and left the vehicle, closing her doors. She showed up at the bus at 7:10 by my watch. 13 minutes is a long time to stand around unexpectedly at -25C.

Before she got there, at about 8 after, There were 6 of 10 buses still sitting with no drivers and people waiting to get on. I walked into the transit building (where you are not allowed to "loiter") and shouted at no one in particular:

"There are a bunch of people standing outside in minus 25 because there are no drivers on the buses 5 minutes after they are supposed to have left the terminal." then left.

All of our routes were shifted last year and it takes me about ten minutes longer to get to work, and 20 minutes longer to get home (on a good day). At the same time, they made a deal with the University students union that all Students get a bus pass for the 8 months of classes unless they can prove they have to drive. Those bus passes cost them $120.00, which appears to be less than 40 cents per trip if they use them for nothing but going to classes. meanwhile, last fall they told city council that the cost of service is nearly $2.00 per ride, so they have to increase the fares. Council has approved the request and now I pay an extra $8.00 per month. If I never drive, and never miss any days, I will pay about $1.60 per trip.

In return for this, we are granted that with all buses now passing through the university, transfers aren't really important any more (sorry, "We are reducing the importance of transfers by having more buses pass where they are needed more frequently"), so the buses are no longer scheduled to meet at regular transfer points. Also, "there will be another bus along shortly" so drivers will no longer watch for frustrated, freezing, people running toward them, and even if they do notice them, they will no longer delay departing (apparently unless that will cause them to miss the next transfer, in which case they'll happily make an exception, but that's a rant for another day).

Laundry Literacy

Who am I to complain? I ruined one of my wife's shirts today. Again. I mistakenly thought that a yellow circle on the laundry tag meant that I could dry it safely at the very low temperature I normally use before hanging to finish. Actually, that would be a circle inside a square. The circle means that it is OK to dry-clean. Not put in the dryer. At any temperature. Apparently. Oh, the shirt is fine. perfectly fine. Unfortunately, all the embroidery shrank, causing some rather psychotic puckering across large stretches of the front and bottom.

Like many North Americans who grew up during the second half of the 20th Century, I made it past grade eight. A large part of those first eight years of schooling were invested in learning to read. A core requirement, I have been told, in order for me to be able function in our advanced, technology based, society. Twenty five years later, I am probably in the top 20% or so of the continent literacy wise since I spend a significant amount of my time reading and writing for pleasure. Yet I am (or more often my wife is) occasionally bereft of some item of clothing because I can't figure out the little series of symbols that are used to on laundry tags communicate the appropriate washing instructions.

I can only assume that the relentless drive for cheaper and cheaper clothing means that companies can't afford the extra 1.2 cents per garment that it would cost to put the washing instructions on the clothes in the language or languages appropriate to the region where they will be sold. I suspect I know what the answer would be, if the average householder were asked "Would you be willing pay an extra 5 cents for each article of clothing buy, if it meant ruining one less item per year?" But I believe we'll never be asked that question. If we are asked that question, we might start to think about what exactly we are getting in exchange for everyday low prices.