Where I stand, there is no sidewalk, no crosswalk and certainly no shelter. It takes some courage to reach this point. When the grass is too wet I stand on a manhole cover that sits in the grass embankment, maybe covering the water meter for the Pep Boys auto supply store that sits right next to the stop. They are apparently the ones who mow the grass and, thankfully, they are doing a good job at it. I am waiting for the 150 bus.

The amentity free bus stop

The 150 Express is not just an ordinary bus, it is fast because it stops only at strategic points and it comes only three times in the morning and three times in the evening. It begins all the way in Columbia and ends somewhere near City Hall. It was introduced in 1991, just before I moved into the area. There are only four services like it out of 44 local bus lines, four local shuttles, two school supplemental routes, six local express routes, five inter-county, and 27 other commuter bus lines. Confused? Welcome to the world of bus transit in the US!

For those who appreciate simplicity, with a smart phone one can get transit via Google maps the same way one selects drive directions: state your location and destination and whatever bus or rail service is best will show up with scheduled departure times.

Google Map transit info for the 150 trip downtown to west of the city

My 150 has sufficient local stops to help some folks like me who would have to walk a good bit further to reach the true local buses like the 10, or the 23. As noted, such a stop comes without frills; a leaning sign post in a patch of grass, that is it. No schedule, no destination, no map. A stop strictly for transit pioneers or Google map aficionados. My nightmare is to stand on the other side of route 40, separated by eight lanes of fast moving cars and trucks when the bus pulls up and I can't cross and the driver doesn't see me. But that hasn't happened. Standing on the manhole and no bus ever coming? That has happened, but only twice. 

The MTA has about 800 buses. Lately, I punch in my four digit stop number into my smart phone texting app and I may get a "real" arrival time based on the actual bus location. Or maybe not. If not, I get the scheduled time only just like on the Google maps. It depends whether the control center can receive the signal emitted by the bus. The driver could also have forgotten to turn the signal on. But they always say they didn't forget. Real time bus arrival information has worked in many places for decades. We are told it will work soon here, too.

Lately the bus has shown up quite on time which is really nice because standing on the side of route 40, the Baltimore National Pike, is really unpleasant, even embarrassing, the mowed grass notwithstanding. At least I imagine how those drivers peering at me through the windshields of their air conditioned or heated SUVs, who sit in the dry at any event, feel sorry for the lone figure stranded at the edge of a road that isn't made for people at all. 

Sometimes a second person waits for the bus. That makes me feel much better. Misery loves company as the saying goes. There have never been three yet at this stop. Standing there, even during the summer break, I see those empty yellow school buses pulling out of their storage lot. But they are, of course, for students only and are not really public transit. One of those American mysteries, to have two sets of buses ....Read full article