i am the scourge of buses. some background: i usually take a fairly long bus ride to and from work; local route, lots of stops. last week i get wind of a few express routes that use this buses-only roadway that makes the route ever so much shorter. so, last friday i go dashing from work in time to catch one of these magical buses. we're on the busway, careening along! no traffic! no lights! god is my copilot! and then, we stop. dead. buses (when they're running) always have this constant, low-voltage thrumming, so when a bus is totally silent it's a little strange. we get on another bus that kindly stops to bring us to the main stop at the end of the busway, where i pick up another one that goes pretty close to my place.

so, yesterday a friend and i make the mad dash in the insane heat to try again. we get on the bus, feeling smug. we're on the busway, and we pull over, dead. our driver restarts the bus, and we start off again with a collective sigh of relief. we make it maybe another mile, and then pull over again. same routine; close all windows, and hit ctrl-alt-delete. this time, while we're waiting for our driver to decide if she's going to try and drive this hunk o' crap another inch, a port authority repair truck comes cruising by. the guys in the truck talk with our driver for awhile, during which time she became increasingly angry. "i told them already that there was a problem with this bus! i asked them to not give me this bus again!" if you close your eyes, you can almost see her head moving from side to side. the repair guys wave her on... sure, it'll be fine... just keep restarting if you have to. another half mile. stop. wait.

another bus on a similar route comes by. our driver forgets she has a radio and starts screaming "wait! WAIT!!!" out the window at this other bus. she finally remembers her radio, and flags that bus down. we all pile on. keep in mind that it was a pretty full bus to begin with, and there were already people on the other bus. so, we all cram in like clowns into a VW, and off we go! we get about 3 stops further, and then when our new driver tries to pull away, nothing happens. the transmission simply won't slip into gear. he tries restarting the bus a few times. no dice. he tries goosing the throttle gently. nada. we're not too far away from the main hub stop, so my friend and i are about to get off the bus and walk back and pick up another when our old driver shows up at the back door. it was great; like a scene out of an action movie where the loveable sidekick that you thought was killed shows up at a critical moment for our hero and says "c'mon guys! what are you waiting for?!?" i swear, she actually said that! so, we all piled back on to the original deathtrap bus and finally made it safely home.

i really hope that this happens.

anyone else have hellacious travel stories? please discuss