Bus buddies
[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Anne_Carolyn_Nancy.jpg” caption=”Bus buddies, from left, Nancy Weller, Carolyn Essner and Anne McInnis.”]It's like bathroom tissue; use the last sheet, replace the roll. If you take the last bus ticket from Planning & Analysis' petty cash box, you're supposed to let someone know to replace the strip. But yeah, sometimes you get busy or forget.
Half of Planning & Analysis' employees commute to McMaster's Downtown Centre by bus or on foot. For meetings on main campus, department staff take transit; the trip from downtown is a mere eight minutes if the Beeline is running and the bus conveniently drops its passengers a scant 30 seconds from the Student Centre and Gilmour Hall. It's a departmental practice that Carolyn Essner, Anne McInnis and Nancy Weller appreciate.
Weller, who uses Burlington Transit for her daily commute, compares her experience to that of driving. “I'm pretty lucky,” she smiles. “I get on the bus in the morning and the Burlington Transit driver hands me the paper. And if I happen to zone out on the way home, the driver always stops when I'm supposed to get off. People who drive get stuck in traffic, they arrive stressed out.”
McInnis, a long-time HSR rider who now walks to work, concurs. “It's nice not to worry about parking. You know, when you can't find a spot and you circle around and around. On the bus you don't have that stress. It's ten to 20 minutes to relax or read. It gives you the freedom to think about things, more prep time or time to gear down when the workday is done. And then there's the whole environmental thing, which I do worry about.”
“We have a party on the bus,” Carolyn Essner says with a big smile. “There's more Mac employees taking transit all the time. We have great fun.”
“You're such a morning person,” Weller counters with a laugh, then adds, “but that's a really good point. On the bus you get to meet people.” Then the three reminisce a little about the friendships (and even the odd romance) they or those they know have forged on bus trips to campus.
“And you know, those of us who take the bus always seem to make it in to work on those storm watch days,” McInnis laughs while the other two bus buddies nod their emphatic agreement.
Still waffling on your New Year's Resolution for 2005? Why not try transit for a month? ACT is offering its discounted bus pass program to staff and faculty (McMaster, MSU, Mohawk) working on any McMaster campus. Receive a 20 per cent discount on a January HSR bus pass – that's $52 instead of the regular $65 – when you purchase your pass at Compass Information Centre in the Student Centre Marketplace. Discount available as of Monday, Dec. 13. Employees must show I.D. Quantities limited. Click here for Compass hours and payment methods.
