On Sunday I rode the bus for the first time in years. The purpose was to get to the Sleep Number in Cupertino to buy a custom contour foam pillow that was on sale. That trip went well. On the way there, I took VTA 25. There was barely any waiting and a minimal amount of walking required. On the way back, I took VTA 23 / VTA 56. Misreading the map caused me to miss the 23. (I waited on the wrong side of the road.) Even with the extra wait, my trip was only 30 minutes longer.
All of the buses that I took that day were nice and empty. Besides myself, there were only one or two other passengers. My Apple Wallet Clipper Card was accepted without any issues. The RTC disability benefit was automatically recognized; all three trips cost a total of $1. Overall, the good experience convinced me to ride the bus more.
Unfortunately, that good taste did not last for long. On Tuesday, I decided to ride the VTA 25 to my physical therapy session at Peak. The bus came right when the Transit app said it would. However, it did not stop for me. I ran after it and waved, but it kept going. By then, it was too late to walk to Peak in time so I had to make an emergency call to my parents and ask for a ride.
That incident left me feeling sour. It’s true that the bus stop I was waiting at was missing a sign, but a call to VTA customer support confirmed that it was still active. (They apologized and said they would send someone to investigate.) Anyway, for the future I’m probably going to stick to walking, especially for appointments where I have to get there on time.
PS: started watching season one of BoJack Horseman
