"But I Don't WANT To Travel All Day On Buses!"

Living in Corrales, NM, back in high school days, we were at the farthest periphery of the Albuquerque bus system. If one walked 2.5 miles to the Corrales Center bus stop, one could theoretically ride the bus into town - IF the bus came (sometimes it didn't). I remember lots of fretfully long walks, back in those days.

The more things change......

Andrew is having a regular work week here in Christchurch, so I've been taking buses to get around town. He's offered his car, but I'm reluctant to accept, not only because of the ever-present danger of crashing his personal transportation, but also because urban driving on the left is unfamiliar (and sure to bring me against New Zealand's counter-intuitive and now-unique right-hand turn rule.

Nevertheless, the distances I'm traveling are pretty large, and bus travel is thus quite slow. Andrew lives in Diamond Harbour, a ferry ride across the bay from Lyttelton, itself on the far SE fringe of Christchurch. He works at Lincoln University, on the far SW fringe of Christchurch. And yesterday I was visiting Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, on the far northern fringe of Christchurch.

So, yesterday morning, Andrew caught a ride to work with his car pool as I took the ferry from Diamond Harbour to Lyttelton. Then I caught the #28 to the city's center. At first, I understood there was another bus, a tourist bus, to Willowbank, and there may in fact be one, but that's not the one I ended up on. Instead, I was directed to take the #11, and soon I was bouncing into the suburbs with the locals.

Returning from Willowbank, I got to the bus stop at 2:40 p.m. for the return trip. But then something ominous happened. The 2:50 bus didn't appear. Neither did the 3:20 bus. Indeed, the 2:50 bus didn't arrive until 3:45 p.m. By this time, I was loudly cursing the managers of the bus system and very worried. I had to rendezvous with Andrew at 5:00 p.m. in Lincoln to catch a ride back to Diamond Harbour with the car pool. There was sufficient give in the plan for one missed bus, but not for two missed buses in a row! And being in the suburbs, I couldn't cobble together an alternative: it was the #11 bus, or nothing. And I had forgotten to bring Andrew's phone number so I couldn't inform him (even if I had been able to locate a phone). And I had Andrew's ONLY house key! Like American bus systems, the NZ bus systems seem prone to unexpected failures. Wretched that it should happen now!

The bus driver of the very late bus was understanding, but said he didn't understand the tardiness himself, since his shift had just started, and the previous driver left no explanation. He thought it might be Lincoln University graduation choking the City Centre streets (the streets seemed OK once we got there, though).

So, off to Lincoln. #11 downtown, then the #81, crawling through rush hour traffic. Reached Lincoln at 5:30 p.m., but unfortunately, as I learned later, the car pool, having waited for me, ultimately departed for Diamond Harbour at 5:25 p.m. So, DAYM!

So, back to the city centre again on the #81, then transfer to the #28 to Lyttelton, then the 7:30 p.m. ferry to Diamond Harbour. I finally trudged to Andrew's house at 8:10 p.m., 5.5 hours after I had started the journey, and having completely crossed the city, twice, on buses. As it fortunately turned out, Andrew had an extra key with him, so he hadn't been locked out. Still, despite the relief of arrival, I was exhausted.

But there was still an amusing moment to cherish on the journey....

Getting on the #28 bus to Lyttelton, the bus driver seemed perplexed about how the #11 bus driver had logged the Lincoln-to-Diamond Harbour trip on my Metro Card. The #11 driver had booked me as crossing three zones and he said that would make the ferry trip free, but she worried that might not be the case (As I age, and my memory for names fades, I have the creeping illusion that I nevertheless know everyone anyway, and she reminded me of a South Pacific version of DMTC's D.H.) She even delayed people from entering the bus, to try and puzzle it out.

At the trip's end, after I exited the bus, the #28 driver took up the chestnut again, and we starting conversing through the open bus door. She took almost a maternal interest in trying to get me a better deal on the bus sytem. "It may be better to use a Day Pass rather than the Metro Card," she said. "I can see from your card that you've been taking a lot of buses today. That's what you should do if you want to travel all day on buses!"

I plaintively wailed, "But I don't WANT to travel all day on buses!" She gave a sheepish, embarrassed, and amused smile, dismissed me with a big wave of her hand, shut the bus door, and took off down the road.