I don’t have a license and my mom can’t always drive me everywhere that I need to go. In Connecticut, we have an awesome bus system that goes beyond just the major cities, but even extends into neighboring suburbs. I rely almost exclusively on CTTransit to get around. I live in the greater Hartford area, which definitely gives me an advantage. My hometown, which bordered on rural, had one bus line that barely even made it across the town line. Three years ago, I moved to a town that borders Hartford, the state's capital and I suddenly had a bus line outside of my house.

I took the semester off to peruse mental health treatment and I would have to take the bus to and from group three times a week. I would try to convince my mom to drive me when I could, but I needed to get there and she wasn’t always available. After that, I began to take the bus more places, which were mostly other appointments. I can schedule things and make plans without having to first consult my mom, which is so much easier.

I love this new sense of freedom and CTTransit is pretty reliable. But, I get so frustrated sometimes because the bus isn’t always super convenient. I have to plan for an hour and a half to two hours of travel just to get to a neighboring town because I have to go into the city, transfer, and then get on a bus to go over there.
Also, something that has really started to bug me is that cars full of teenagers think that it is okay to yell out their windows at me while I am waiting at the bus stop. It is more than just humiliating. I am waiting at this bus stop so that I can go to wherever it is that I am going. I have to plan a whole day of travel and I don’t take that lightly. And, if it is available to me and going to run that route regardless of if I am on it, then why not take advantage of it?

Most recently this happened to me while I was waiting at a bus stop outside of Target. This car drove past me, and a young lady yelled something at me. I didn’t catch what she said, and it doesn’t really matter, but what bugs me is why did she do it then in the first place? Does she think that she is above me because she could get a ride from a friend? Is her life so boring that she doesn’t go anywhere if she doesn’t have access to a car?

Yes, I take the bus. But does that make me less of a person? Am I beneath those who can take a car everywhere? No. I am another person, who makes it to her appointments on time. I just have to factor in more travel time and plan accordingly. If the bus was more on-demand and efficient to my individual needs, I would love it much more. But the reality is, that the bus is efficient and meets the demands of the people who use it as a whole and I am not the only person who needs to get places. It comes more often during the day than early morning and the evening, and the routes have a tendency to connect the suburbs to nearby cities.

Sometimes it smells, and sometimes the bus is up to 10 minutes late and very rarely early, but that is okay because I will take what I can get. And what I have is a pretty decent way to get around and I can accurately predict the time a bus will arrive on a familiar route. I will take what I can get and the bus does the job just fine.