That's what I heard from the bus driver. I don't know his name, I should. He works the night owl route down 11th and Oak Springs from Down Town. He had pulled the bus to a stop and was shouting out the doors to a man in a wheel-chair who was trying to get on the bus. The bus was heading west.
For the rest of my ride I had distinct convictions about who exactly should run the country. The bus driver had barred the wheel chair man entry to the bus, and then, in a jovial manner, had lowered the ramp and gingerly strapped the man into a seat space. The whole time he was making jokes and commenting on the affairs that he shared between himself and the regulars of his route. At one point he even broke up a fight between some riders with a few choice terse words. I was humbled, afraid to speak to him. I told him thank you when the bus had reached my destination, waited a few moments eagerly and departed.
I thought of this because I didn't see anything like it at my first afternoon at the East Austin Studio Tour. A celebration of a certain culture in East Austin.
this reminds me of when I would take the bus last year in Tucson, and once we had to wait thirty minutes for the bus driver to strap a handicapped man in; the worst part was that the ramp was broken, and the driver just kept kicking it over and over until it worked.
ReplyDeletealso another time, i was the only person on the bus & the driver asked me if it would be okay if he pulled over somewhere to get a sandwich for dinner. he did just that. i ended up getting off the bus and walking to a cafe. that story pretty much summarizes tucson: a bus driver got hungry, wanted a sandwich, and parked his bus.
haha I have been on a bus going down east 7th, a packed bus, and had the driver pull over and stop to get his dinner from churchs. He was real fast though and it wasn't so bad.
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