Bus ride...

After a week of wayfinding, I must admit that when we were first assigned this project I was a bit irritated that we had to, again, use some form of transportation and that it would be foreign to the majority of us this time. Once I started on this “adventure”, however, I soon realized how thankful I am to live on campus and to have a car.
I had heard, the day before, that you could take the HEAT Bus to the actual bus depot downtown and pick your route from there. Because I’m impatient, and apparently not very smart, I got on the first HEAT Bus that I saw on the morning of my riding and hoped that it would take me where I wanted to go. Needless to say, I sat for 30 minutes while the bus driver drove his route on and around campus until I was dropped off in the exact same place I started. After feeling extremely embarrassed and a bit frustrated, I decided just to drive to the depot. Although I felt that getting in my car and driving was completely defeating the entire process, by driving I knew that I would definitely get there and would be able to complete the assignment. The very moment I arrived at the depot and saw the classic wooden benches with people and their luggage that you see in various movies, I felt like I was a child running away. I was disoriented and slightly overwhelmed, but I eventually found the pamphlets that had the bus routes in them and decided to go to Friendly Shopping Center. It was humorous to me, and I’m sure to the other passengers on the bus, how foreign the experience was for me and my classmates. We had no idea where to put our change when we got on or when to pull the yellow rope that requests a stop. Also, because we were taking pictures rapidly, I’m pretty sure the passengers thought we were crazy tourists or snotty, privileged young adults, and that made me feel a bit uncomfortable and almost undeserving or unwelcome to ride the bus. The night before my riding, the 6-o-clock news did a segment on how starting on a certain date, it will become a law that the GTA must have at least six cameras running 24/7 for the safety of its passengers. As I was riding at 11 am, I could definitely see how fights could get started or how women, especially, could feel unsafe.
I, unfortunately, did not read the civil rights reading on blackboard before I began my “Three R’s” project. I have, however, read several informational sources in the past regarding civil rights in Greensboro and have done various projects on historical events such as the famous Sit-In at the Woolsworth downtown so I was not completely unaware of what was in the reading. After I completed the reading, the project came full circle for me. In the end, I can say that I highly respect those that use and work for the public transportation system. Never again will I curse at a GTA Bus when I get stopped one while I’m driving…