Dump the Pump

In honor of National Dump the Pump day June 19th, I decided to ride the bus to work. I had picked up some information at the MATA display while I was at the Sisterhood Showcase, so I was ahead of the game. I knew how much change to have in my pocket and after a quick phone call to MATA (the online trip planner wasn’t cooperating), I knew which bus stop to go to.

I hoped to catch the 8:36am bus at Summer and Hollywood, but after walking my kids to school a few blocks away, I didn’t get to the bus stop until 8:42am. So I stood and waited for the 8:58am bus. I had gotten a little sweaty while walking to the kids’ school and was a little disappointed to find that my stop had no shelter. Thankfully there was a nice breeze, so I was able to cool off a little.

There was one other person waiting with me. He sat on the ground behind me until the bus arrived exactly at 8:58am. I had a brief moment of panic when I saw the words “Summer/Shelby Oaks” displayed across the front of the bus. I mentally tried to figure out how I might end up on Shelby Oaks on the way downtown, which I couldn’t do.

“Does this bus go downtown?” I asked the driver, just to be sure.

She nodded and I climbed on board. “I’d like a trolley transfer, please,” I said.

She punched a small piece of paper and handed it to me. I walked over to the closest seat and just barely touched down before we were off. The man I had been waiting with was seated across from me. There was another man nearby who was asleep on what looked like a large laundry bag. He had a prosthetic leg and did not appear to be in very good shape. The other four people on the bus were spread out in the back and appeared to be on their way to work.

The bus itself was somewhat clean. (Or maybe I should say “free of trash.”) The seats were upholstered in a 70s print that was badly worn and stained. I could see various crumbs and dried liquid stains across the floor under the seats, which I assumed was pretty sticky.

I also took a moment to read the ads displayed above the windows. There was one on truancy, organ donation, crime, and the National Civil Rights Museum’s Montgomery Bus Boycott exhibit from February/April. There were plenty of empty ad spaces and I wondered what it cost to purchase one.

There were other signs on the bus as well. One warned of the penalty for threatening or performing an act of violence on the bus and another one noted that there might be a surveillance camera on board. (I didn’t see one.)

Despite the less than warm & fuzzy feeling I got on board, I tried to take note of all of the other stops along North Parkway in case I decided to ride the bus more often. At Evergreen, the bus made an abrupt right turn. Once again, I had a mild feeling of panic as I wondered how far off of North Parkway we were going. We did a small loop around Tutwiler and came back down Watkins to North Parkway. “Well that was interesting,” I thought to myself.

From there we hauled it to the North Terminal, arriving at 9:12am. The bus let us off on Shadyac so I walked over to Main to catch the trolley. The North End of downtown is surprisingly dead in the early morning. It would have been nice to grab a cup of iced coffee or a newspaper. I told myself that if I couldn’t see a trolley nearby I would walk. However, there was one waiting and I was in a seat by 9:16am.

There were only four other people on the trolley—all women. When we got to Court Square a couple of tourists headed to the Arcade Restaurant and a group of teenagers (maybe even tweens) going to Peabody Place Mall got on board.

As we approached the MLGW administrative building, I pulled the cord signaling I wanted to stop. As I gathered my things I overheard one of the four women say, “Light, Gas, & Water, I guess I better go give them some money.” Then she and the three other women got off and went into the Downtown Community Office.

I walked across the street and looked at my watch: 9:28am. I had left my house with the kids at 8:15am. So, my normal 15 minute commute by car was an hour and fifteen minutes by foot/bus/trolley. Clearly, I would need to adjust my alarm clock if I planned to ride the bus to work again.

Looking ahead to my bus ride home, I decided to call my husband and see if he could pick up the kids, just in case.