I am incredibly privileged to live in a city where I have access to some of the best public transportation in the United States. Living in Westminster, CO, I commute to work (like most people do) in Boulder. One of the amazing benefits of my job is an eco-pass, a bus pass that allows me to get onto any of the RTD buses in the Denver – Boulder area at no cost. Were in not for this pass, I probably wouldn’t work in Boulder. Even when I did not have a pass provided by work, I invested in a monthly one. Since 2009 I have been taking the bus multiple times per week. Here are eight reasons I love it.
I do own a car, as most people my age in our country do. I wanted to be able to drive across the country whenever the mood struck me, so I invested in an SUV. To fill up my gas tank, it costs me about $32 per tank. I can make it to work and back about 4 times per tank. That means if I am working 5 days per week, 4 weeks per month, I have to fill my tank 5 times. This costs me about $160 per month. That would just be the cost of getting to and from work, and does not take into account the things I already use my car for, such as going to the grocery store or picking up foster animals.
I know $160 isn’t an overwhelming amount of money, but I would much rather take that money and put it somewhere else that I need more. Taking the bus, I fill my tank more like 2 times per month, and that does include all of my little side trips and volunteer events where I need a car to get where I’m going.
- Save Time
If you are like me, you know that your time is money. I estimate an hour of my time is between $25-$30 per hour. This usually means that if something costs me less than $25 for an hour’s worth of work (you’ll never see me mow my lawn for example), then it is worth paying for. So if taking the bus takes me about an hour (and it does, when I include wait time and walk time) I’m not really saving money, right?
I often work your typical 9:00am – 5:00pm shift. Taking U.S. 36 into Boulder in the morning or out of town in the evening is painful. Traffic at that time is so bad, it actually takes me the same amount of time to drive as it does to take the bus. At least on the bus I can relax. Which brings me to:
- Save Energy
Driving takes energy. It takes focus and concentration. A good driver is paying attention at all times and is ready for the worst. During 9:00am traffic, the stress is ridiculous! Traffic is stop go, everyone is in a hurry, people get too close behind you and are crawling in front of you. I can feel my entire body tensing with frustration and anxiety. I don’t even get anxious because I’m going to be late for work (although throw that into the mix and I’m a full on hot mess!).
When I’m on the bus, the experience is completely different. The bus driver gets to be the one who focuses on the road while I relax and either gear up for my day or unwind and process my time at work. The bus often has special lanes on the road just for them to travel, so there are less vehicles in the way. Instead of being wound up and pulling my tense body out of the car, I get to meander off the bus, my destination at hand.
- Stay Safe
With all that stop and go traffic, accidents are bound to happen. I see at least one accident on this main highway almost every single day of the week. Statistically speaking, I’m bound to be in one sooner or later. I was almost rear-ended once. We were clipping along at a decent pace and the car in front of me stopped somewhat abruptly. I had left plenty of room for myself to stop, but the car behind me hadn’t. Glancing in my mirror, I knew he was going to hit me, so I pulled to the side a little bit, giving them more room to stop. Their car stopped moving when the front of it was even with my back seat windows.
On a bus, I don’t have the same worries as I do in a car. The rate of bus accidents is much lower than car accidents. What is more, and this might be selfish but it’s honest, if I am on a bus and get into an accident, the bus is the vehicle that wins. Physically speaking, it is very unlikely that I will get significantly injured. This is yet another reason I can let go and relax on a bus as much as I do.
- Be Productive
As long as I’m going to be in a vehicle for an hour, I want my time to be spent wisely. I could sit and focus on the road, stressing about not getting into an accident or wondering how the woman next to me is managing to drive while playing on her phone the whole time. Or I can do things like read, write, nap, and practice a language.
I wrote the first draft of this post while sitting on the bus. In fact, I write almost all of my first drafts during my commute. Every book I’ve read in the past year has been almost exclusively read while I was on the bus. The bus commute offers me the opportunity to be productive with my travel time, whereas I cannot while driving.
- Stay Active
For anyone that knows me, you know if have a Fitbit and I’m obsessed with it. I will stay up and pace my house late at night if I haven’t gotten my steps in for the day. I almost never have to do that when I’m taking the bus though. There is a park-n-ride just down the street from my house, which I admittedly drive to. Then there is a bus stop in front of my work. Very little extra walking is required, but I’m certainly dropped off further from my car or the door to my office each day than I would be if I drove. Sometimes I even skip transferring from the bus that gets me into Boulder and I just walk to work. My step count by the time I get home from work is around 7,500 if I take the bus. It is much less when I drive.
- No Parking
This might not be a big deal for a lot of people but oh my goodness do I hate finding parking. You should see if I have to pay for it too. Not worth it, ever. First you have to find a spot, then you have to pay for it, then you have to go back every few hours to feed the machine. At my work, parking in scarce and the spots are small. Don’t even get me started if I go the other way to Denver and have to park there. Often I end up parking so far away from my final destination that I have to get on the bus anyway. When commuting via bus, I don’t have to find a place to safely leave my vehicle. It is just one more way that I save money as well.
- Help the Environment
You had to know that as the hippie I am, of course the environment is on this list. I debated putting it at the top because of how important it is to me. Some of you will roll your eyes, I know, but it was a factor that I simply couldn’t leave out. Every time I ride the bus, it is one less car sending carbon emissions into the air. I work in Boulder because I love my job, but that doesn’t mean I’m unaware of the damage my daily commute can do to the environment. Every little thing I can do to not make things worse is worth it for me, regardless of the seven other reasons I have listed above.
