Public Transit

One of my latest adventures was local public transit.  Charleston has a system of cute little green trolleys (along with more utilitarian buses, of course) called DASH.  There are about four different loops and, best of all, it's free.  What could be better?

It's been a long time since I took a bus, although I used to do it fairly often in NYC, and I had forgotten the whole social dynamic of travel by bus.  First of all, from my reading I had anticipated something created for the tourist trade.  That may have been the idea but the locals have certainly taken it up.  Tourists were definitely in the minority but tourist or local, there's still nothing quite like going by bus.  There's the wait for it to arrive.  Not too bad the first time I got on but wait till later.  Then there's the group that somehow always builds up near the front, followed by the driver asking everyone to move back.  Then there's the person on a cellphone who apparently wants everyone to be aware of her social life.  And, of course, there's the political/social discussion going on among three guys on the back seat at voice levels that would reach the last seats in any theater.  Some things never change.  But I do think Occupy Wall Street should be aware that it has at least three voluble supporters in Charleston.

One transfer and I got to Broad Street and set off for the historic house I had selected for today's tour.  It was lovely by the way.  After the house and stops at one or two shops in the area, I found the proper trolley stop and waited for the return trip.  I do not know if this is a pattern or just my experience that day, but waits were much longer and trolleys more crowded.  Maybe it was just that all those tourists I hadn't seen in the morning were now heading home to decide which marvelous restaurant to try.  In any event, the trolley was so crowded that it was difficult to keep an eye out for street signs and I missed my stop and had to trudge (trudge is what you do at the end of a day of sightseeing) back to the transfer point I needed.  Waiting for the trolley I needed then took longer than anything yet had.  Every other line came by the stop multiple times and if I had wanted to go to the aquarium, I could have done it several times. The young lady sitting next to me at the stop, a student at a local college, and I had about decided that they had cancelled our line for the day when one finally appeared.  It gave me a look at parts of the city I hadn't seen yet and it did get me home.

Thinking back on my transportation efforts, I calculate that I spent at least half my time that day waiting for trolleys and getting where I wanted to go.  I have a new appreciation for those who have to negotiate cities that don't have subway systems.  I've also decided that I will do my bit with recycling but it makes more sense for me to drive to the area I want to explore and park in a parking structure.  Thank heaven there are lots of those in downtown Charleston.