10 bones / month

Ten dollars is all it costs for a 31-day unlimited ride Capital Metro bus pass. Ten dollars. The price seems so insignificant when compared to the $35 that it takes to refill the gas tank every two weeks. $70/month in gas versus $10/month for someone else to drive. Someone else to deal with traffic. Someone else to take me to the same place that I have to be every M-F at the same time.

Why do I drive to work? Because I have to? Because some days I'm lazy. Yeah, I admit it.

I think of the indoctrinating GM slogan of "It's not just your car; it's your F-R-E-E-D-O-M!" Freedom? From what? How was I emprisoned before? Freedom from inconvenience, the ability to just pick up and go whenever I wanted? I think that's what I'm supposed to believe. Reality is, all drivers seem to need to believe that if we're to maintain a façade of happiness and not admit we are all drivers stuck in the traffic that adverts never acknowledge.

I'm lucky; I've got the bus option, and it works for me. I could either take the 350 one block from my house and switch to the 174 at the North Lamar Transit Center or walk a few blocks and hop on the 174 for a one-bus ride all the way to work. Some on the bus don't have that option. I'm what's called a "choice rider" because I have a car and choose to ride the bus.

Now, I'm not a car-hater by any means. And, I do drive. The bus and the car are not mutually exclusive; I wish people would stop thinking that they are. Car haters are stupid people. Work together, dammit.

Public transportation is for the poor, right? For those that don't have a car, right? Well, things are coming full circle:

"It's not just the bus, it's your F-R-E-E-D-O-M!"

Take that, Detroit, and stick it in your dash.