Re: Geez! Where is everyone?
Posted by:
Magda (---.dialip.mich.net)
Date: April 01, 2003 05:43AM
It is true that strangers on busses and trains don't generally talk to each other, although there are exceptions. And people rarely talk on the elevator/lift. If they do, it's generally about the odd behaviour of said lift (taking forever for the doors to open, burned out lights, stopping on floors where nobody is waiting, and so forth).
There is one particular street near the medical center where I work that does have a car pool lane. You're supposed to have at least 2 people in the car to use it, during certain hours. Don't know that it's enforced, though, and we don't have pick up spots for strangers. There is a city bus system though, and university employees can get a free commuter bus pass instead of buying a parking permit if they wish. I considered it, but while the Ann Arbor Transit Authority (AATA) bus does have a route that goes down to the nearby town where I live (in fact, within 2 blocks of my place) it would take me an hour to get to the downtown station, and then another half hour to get from there to work, while it only takes me 20-30 minutes to drive it myself. But the real deal-breaker was that, assuming a zero time transfer downtown (unlikely), the earliest I could get to work would be at 9:30am, and the latest I could leave and still get home would be 4:30pm. Not exactly what my boss would consider a full work day, and I'd be spending at least 3 hours in transit every day instead of 40-60 minutes.
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"I've often said that the difference between British and American SF TV series is that the British ones have three-dimensional characters and cardboard spaceships, while the Americans do it the other way around."
--Ross Smith