Update on Car Free Challenge: Fabian Wants YOU to Ride the Bus!

Santa Rosa CityBus staffer Fabian Favila has entered the TransForm Car Free Challenge and is about to wrap up his last day of the week-long event. I have greatly enjoyed his reports and observations and hope that people will take a moment to read some of his blog posts. If you like what you read, donate a token pledge of support to Fabian and TransForm. (Turns out Fabian is in the running for top donation earner....if you help push him over the top he may get a rewarding prize, which he richly deserves!).

Or better yet, get on the bus!

Below is an excerpt from his Day 3 post "Who Rides the Bus?"

Let’s face it; the American “car culture” makes it difficult to ponder the possibility of any other form of transportation, least of all the bus. I’ve heard people say they’ll take the bus when it comes to their door step. There is also the stereotype that the bus is for “icky” people or only the poor. Well, not really.

I have met some interesting people on the bus. There’s the correctional counselor for Marin County who commutes from the City. He can calm any storm and you can tell he’s a good soul. We once had an interesting discussion about “gateway drugs.” There are the toll takers who work the graveyard shift and catch the first bus north and the High-Tech guy. One toll taker is proud to be putting his daughter through college, a nice man. He always says hello, or ‘Have a good weekend’ as he exits in San Rafael. The other toll taker pulls her beanie cap over her eyes and it is lights out to almost Santa Rosa (SR). She’s putting herself through grad. school. The High-Tech has clients overseas. He is texting at all different hours so his office time in Petaluma is for meetings mostly. He takes MUNI to connect with GGT at the bridge and Petaluma Transit on the final leg to the office. The BART guy lives in SR but works graveyards cleaning BART stations. When I’m going to work in the mornings, he’s going home. There is the opera guy who lives half time in the City when he’s in a production. He takes GGT to SR to connect with Sonoma County Transit to take him to his other home in Guerneville. There’s the I.T. contractor that commutes to Novato. She helps restructure I.T. systems for loan agencies—victims of mortgage crisis. She once reprogrammed my Blackberry for me. There’s the chef who travels from the City to his job in SR. We can’t forget the bus drivers, some real great people with a lot responsibility and lives in their hands. Ever cross the Bridge when the wind is really blowing and the rain is coming down in buckets? I’m glad I’m not driving. The driver I have now runs the bus like clock work. He’s never late to my stop. I can tell when he’s taken a vacation day. The bus runs a little late to my stop—the replacement driver not used to the route.