I love the bus. Well, all public transportation in general. I think I got that from my dad. He’s what they call a new urbanist. On the first day of middle school he put me on the public bus with a flip phone and 75 cents and said, “good luck”! (Of course, he had practiced the route with me before and the school was very close). From then on, I became a bussing expert. The only problem is, I have a horrible sense of direction, (which I inherited from my dad as well) and so, there have been many occasions where I have gotten on the bus going the opposite way completely. But it’s always an adventure! Most of the world uses public transportation way more then the US does (sans New York), because, well, we are certainly the nation of cars. We have like, so many cars, 797 cars per 1000 people here (Wikipedia). When I visited London I was amazed at the tube (the subway system) and how everyone uses it. Not just the lower class, but also, the working elite (from what I observed). My mom and I even saw that one British famous guy who always plays the villain…In Italy I used the bus by myself many times to go visit my “friend”, and at first I was really nervous, but soon realized it was even easier then here in the US. I remember calling him because I kept getting confused, and he said his stop was just past the coliseum, so I looked out the window and, there it was! That being said, I have had some… interesting experiences on the bus. In Italy, a woman passed out on me on the bus, and I had to yell at the bus driver to stop while motioning for someone to call the ambulance. The other day I was coming alone to Tacoma from Seattle and I was in downtown Seattle at night and got catcalled and slightly harassed at the bus stop. I put my hood on and sat down and tried not to be noticed while I waited for 45 minutes. The best story of all is in 6^th grade when I played cello and hauled the cello which was bigger then me on the bus, and it took a turn and my cello and me fell on a cute high schooler. I was humiliated. I think the reason people think the bus is a dangerous place is because we all think we need our own cars. Therefore, leaving the bus as an option just for “people who cant afford to drive”. Which is dumb, because cars are expensive! Who can afford to drive? Also, if buses were better funded and came more frequently we wouldn’t have to worry about waiting there alone for 45 minutes. Yes, having the independence of a car is nice, and I complain about having to take the bus sometimes. But, it’s also nice to not have to worry about parking, insurance, gas, and it's nice to be able to sleep and read while getting to where you need to go. I’ve even had some great conversations and met some really interesting people there. I do feel bad for the couple of people I've fallen asleep on though… I am a strong supporter of increasing the whole public transit system, and making it harder for people to drive (even a fan of making gas more expensive hehehe). (I even wrote a letter to Obama about it when I was 13...) I’m super happy about the ST3 bill’s approval this year in Seattle, to expand transit. That’s a step in the right direction! And even if our nation is going to garbage, you can still choose to take the bus, subway, light rail. It will do you, the environment, and the community well.