“You may complain, but how many times has that little blue-and-white bus saved your butt?”
Yes, we at JMU may complain about the transit buses – too crowded, not convenient, and so on. I have personally described the inner-campus buses during class changes as being the JMU equivalent to a Japanese subway, where you have people crammed in closer than you would ever want to think about. At JMU, at the very least, you can kiss the guy next to you with little effort on the bus during class changes. Still, though, the Harrisonburg Transit system is great. Direct service from CISAT right through to Miller Hall, four different JMU routes going up to CISAT from Godwin Hall, and of course Route 5, with that lovely trolley bus as seen at left. It does go to CISAT, but it’s just so clever-looking for a transit bus. I said that as they get new buses that they should eventually all look like that, but it turns out the “trolley buses” are a little bit smaller than the regular buses, and thus less desirable for inner-campus service, and apartment-land runs. Still, the thing I love best is those times where I’m running late, and I can catch the bus in the “ta-daa” nick of time, and get to class with seconds to spare. There was one time I missed the bus by just a hair, and ended up being fifteen minutes late to class. And being late to class isn’t good, if nothing else, because everyone stares at you coming in. If it wasn’t for the bus, I’d still be driving that scooter around, which, to be honest with you, I just plain old got tired of. Of course, even with the scooter, I’d still be taking the bus back up the hill.
Date posted: March 24, 2002