Recently I wrote a post about trying to get around Baltimore City by bicycle. To make a long story short, it was less than successful. Despite the many “Share the Road” signs and images of the Mayor cycling with her entourage around the Inner Harbor on television I found my experience to be far less safe or serene. I immediately went back to driving my truck to work.

Having a big Nissan Frontier Nismo 4×4 pickup truck is wonderful for yard work, camping, hauling stuff to the dump or shuttling my downhill bike, but one this it isn’t great for is parking in the city. Even though I have the short bet, it’s still to long. It also gets terrible gas mileage in the city (about 13mpg) and I’ve just had to replace my brakes and rotors at 36k miles, which was very expensive. Now, I need 4 new tires. Apparently the combination of city driving during the week and highway on the weekends traveling up and down the East Coast for downhill mountain biking has been the perfect costly storm for my truck and I. In short, I just couldn’t afford to drive it anymore. It doesn’t make good economical sense and I live in a city, so it seems I should be able to get around by mass transit. However, I tried this little experiment years ago and found that I simply wasn’t smart enough to figure out the routing system from my house on the outskirts of the city down to where I work. I live in Lauraville and I work in Canton, shouldn’t be too complicated right? Well, when I tried this last time I went to the Maryland Transportation Authority website and found a pile of .pdf route maps. I had no idea how to read them properly and certainly not how to link them up to make an actual commute. I tried calling their help line and they made it clear that they weren’t there to help dummies like me sort it out. So that was that. Now, back to the present.

Lucky for me, Google has now gotten into the public transportation mapping game. I enter where I’m at and where I want to go and Voila! it maps my route for me. It tells me when the next bus is expected to arrive and where to pick it up. I can select what time I plan to leave, or by what time I must arrive.

I used the Google maps tool to plot out my route to work which included taking one bus toward the center of town, switching to another and then finishing my route. It costs $1.60 for each ride and because I would be switching buses on my way to work and then again on my return, it makes more sense for me to purchase a day pass for $3.50. Pricing and route information can be found on the MTA website. You can also register to receive notification by text or email if your planned route is delayed or diverted. On my first day of riding the bus I was excited, nervous and a little scared. The buses pass through more than a few blighted neighborhoods through which I don’t normally travel, so I admit it, I clutched my pearls a little bit. However, most of the drivers were helpful and friendly, the buses cleaner than I had anticipated and well, none of the other riders really even looked at me. I followed my bus route on my Google maps iPhone app to ensure that I had gotten on the right bus and I knew when to get off. I was able to quickly and easily locate my next bus stop and was at work 45 minutes early. My return trip home was equally uneventful and I closed my day with a mixture of feeling independent and empowered. After all, I was finally living up to my own recommendations. I was saving myself money and helping out the environment. The next day I packed a book and switched to a backpack. I wore flip flops and packed my heels. I tucked a collapsible umbrella into my pocket and enjoyed my new found wheels. The costs savings are significant. $60 for a tank of gas verses 17.50 for a week of bus fare. I’m not totally sure how to calculate the cost of maintenance, but even though I drive only a short distance to work (less than five miles each way) I was able to immediately notice the relief. Along the way I’ve learned my route well enough that I’ve even located alternate buses that I can hop on if my is running late. I’ve learned that the buses do not have GPS and that the Google time is based on their planned route, not reality. Buses in Baltimore almost never arrive on their scheduled time. I don’t know if they are perpetually early, or perpetually late, but eventually you just learn to arrive 15 minutes before google says, or wait 15 minutes after, The bus will come eventually and almost always within 10 minutes of your arrival at the stop. It does take twice as long to get home, but usually I’m lost in a book, working on my latest crochet project or listening to a podcast. Use some of your saved money and buy a smart phone, it will provide some entertainment. Overall the bus is a different lifestyle. You have to plan better and pack more stuff to take with you. It takes a little longer, but it’s much more relaxing. So sit back, relax and welcome aboard the MTA.

My Bus Riding tips:

1. Get a good backpack and pack well. You can leave it on and fit in your seat. This keeps your hands free and you don’t have to worry about accidentally leaving anything on the bus.

2. Plan your route ahead of time, but don’t expect it to be exact. Leave 15-20 minutes before your planned bus arrival.

3. Unless you are going downtown, try to avoid switching buses there during rush hour. The buses can get quite crowded and you may have to deal with standing room only and frequent stops.

4. Purchase a good pair of rubber boots and a vented, collapsible umbrella. You’ll need them eventually.

5. Pack a book, or learn to knit or crochet. Sure you can play Fruit Ninja or Angry Birds for an hour, but use this opportunity to expand your horizons please.

6. If you are at a bus stop and you are alone, but the one across the street from you is full, you are probably on the wrong side. Run across the street and ask the folks there if you are at the stop for your bus. Most every rider I have been has been both friendly and knowledgeable. If you still aren’t sure, ask the driver of the next bus that stops.

7. If you are at a bus stop alone and you are sure you are at the right one, be sure to give the driver of your incoming bus a little wave. It’s difficult for drivers to tell if you are waiting for a ride or just loitering about. They don’t like to stop more than necessary because it slows down the route. Eventually you will get to know your drivers and they will recognize you, but until then or if you are on a new stop…wave and smile.

8. Get some change. The bus is a great way to use all of that change you’ve got laying about on your dress or piled into jars around the house. However, the bus does take exact change only. If you are someone who likes to use dollar bills or pay by credit card, then get yourself a Charm Card. This reusable plastic card looks a bit like a credit card and you just tap it when you board the bus and it automatically deducts your fare. It can even store your day pass electronically so you don’t have to gather piles of paper fare cards.

I felt so great about my new commuting abilities that I was ready to go out and sell my truck and become carless. After all we still have one in the family and I have a lot of friends and family, plus there are plenty of taxis in the city in an emergency. However, in the end my husband convinced me otherwise. However, let me stress that this can easily be done in Baltimore. I just happen to occasionally want to sleep in late, or take my daughter to school, head out of town unexpectedly and while I love my bus riding it still causes my aforementioned friends and family some anxiety to know that I’m buzzing around town by public transit. So, I’ll keep my wheels and use them occasionally, but I’ll be on the bus most days of the week. If you ride the 19, 11, 13 or 7 buses you might just see me there.

Please note that if you aren’t lucky enough to live where you work like I am, there is also the light rail, MARC trains and we even have a subway (although I have yet to find that to be useful in my travels I’m afraid). You can connect to the DC metro and get around pretty far pretty easily and inexpensively. The more ridership increases the more connections they’ll build, so grab your change jar or your Charm Card hon and hop onboard the MTA.