In terms of travel in my college town, both myself & peers agree: There is no good way to get around.

I widely experience this, due to the fact that I’m unable to drive for a variety of financial, medical & personal reasons. Any mode of transit except for my own personal car is often how I get around; this comes with quirks, problems, & joys.

I’m lucky to have a bus route close to my residence. The bus routes here are generally easy to understand, with some inconsistencies depending on delays & forced detours that occasionally take place.

Originally, while living on campus, I depended solely on our version of a street car system. If I’m being honest, I have a sort of resentment towards the street car since it is a singular loop that caters directly to the campus & downtown crowd, avoiding some of the most common roads. The streetcar is so localized to the campus scene that most people in the city have never been on it.

In those early years of college, depending on the likes of Uber was a frustrating but necessary ask in order to pick up groceries or go to doctors visits.

In that time, I fondly remember an older man who, during the pandemic often picked me up at my freshman dorm. I was living alone, isolated in online only classes.

I always found it a bit easier to talk to adults than people my own age, & with this gentleman, I was pleased to strike up conversation with him. He was an older gay man. We talked about his life, we talked about my budding transition, I learned he had connections to one of the amazing TAs I had in my favorite class I took that fall from the Gender & Women’s studies department.

It was a real sense of community, a sort of pride budding in my chest just to chat with this man. I remember him telling me, one night before going back to the dorm, that after all he had been through he couldn’t claim the queer label for himself, but he was proud of me for finding something I could call my own.

It’s those small moments of social interaction & talk i actually love about public transit. I think embracing the people around you in earnest makes for a better day overall.

Living off campus, relying on bus routes & getting around with my mobility aids has made for more of these moments. Nice talks in the aching hours of the morning as the sun comes up.

My city prioritized free public transit, & continues to do so, along with having one of the most accessible busses I’ve perhaps ever been on when multiple, up to three wheel chair users can fit at a time. There’s still room for someone like me with my cane & now, occasional rollator use.

I find community a lot with other folks using mobility aids, like the man who taught me how to lock my wheels & adjust the arm grips.

I find community whenever I happen to smoke near a bus stop. Some of the leading anti-psych conversations I have are with other people who self medicate, homeless folks, drifters, people who twitch & talk to themselves like I do.

I love these people. I love the rumble of the bus on the shitty streets. Every day I ride the bus & only once have I had an incident of near violence, and that was me standing up for someone else.

Even in the moments I sit in silence, I relish in the collective experience, & recognize how much I’d hate driving alone.