I have sinned. I have caused chickens to be slaughtered for my sensual gratification. I have blasphemed and fornicated. I have done things I am ashamed of. In a past life (or so I infer) I have progidously flouted the strictures of karma. Thus, I was this morning condemned to the purgatory of experiencing the Cambridge public transportation system.
To be sure, there are people who have done much worse, and have been condemned to the hell of public transportation systems which painful and punishing, regularly assaulted or beaten, or suffocated by the press of bodies, roasting, unable to breathe. Without venturing out of the first world, I have stood before a raspily breathing tunnel and felt the warm breath of hell caressing my face. Stagecoach is only purgatory, aggravating and occasionally humiliating, but not putting people in immediate danger of damage or death[1].
First, thanks:
- to the sun, for having a lovely day on which it's impossible to be annoyed
- to D-at-work, for suggesting I work from home
- to the bus driver of the Citi 6, who stopped at the bus stop solely to tell the people waiting that the 15 had broken down
Second, what went wrong:
Plan A: Catch first outbound #15 of day. Foiled when it doesn't come within 45 min.
Plan B: Catch second outbound #15 of day from bar hill. Foiled when citi #5 to bar hill doesn't come.
At this point stagecoach have a choice. 45 min later, the vehicle scheduled for the second #15 of the day becomes available, but this is scheduled to leave from bar hill. The choice seems to be (a) use the vehicle to run the entire route of the first #15, thus creating a delay of 1 hour 2 minutes for all people waiting for the first bus, and a delay of 2 minutes for all people waiting for the second bus or (b) stick to the schedule, ensuring a delay of 1 hour or nothing along the majority of the route, and a delay of 2 hours for people waiting for the first leg of the first bus. I know people with a firm faith in schedule may prefer the latter, but given the eccentricity of the bus schedules to start with, I can't help but think the former would be much more actually helpful. (To be frank, I can't see why they don't just schedule the second bus two minutes later to start with, and have the same route for that as all the others.)
(To be fair, possibly there were good reasons I didn't realise for the choice even if it seemed eccentric to me.)
Plan C: Hope stagecoach will take option (a). Foiled when second #15 drives past tauntingly displaying "not in service".
Plan D: Work at home. Rant about it on LJ later. This seemed to work.
Footnote
Except cyclists. If one supposes that Stagecoach buses are the agents of karmic retribution, I dread to think what sins Cambridge cyclists accumulated on the last cycle of the Wheel. Presumably they are reincarnations of souls eventually incarnated as the lowest forms of insects, and then came the sort of ants who heard a mythological hero weeping in frustration over a basket of mixed grains they needed to separate to keep their word, their love, or their honour, and instead of helping, laughed at them, and beat up the ants who helped.
To be sure, there are people who have done much worse, and have been condemned to the hell of public transportation systems which painful and punishing, regularly assaulted or beaten, or suffocated by the press of bodies, roasting, unable to breathe. Without venturing out of the first world, I have stood before a raspily breathing tunnel and felt the warm breath of hell caressing my face. Stagecoach is only purgatory, aggravating and occasionally humiliating, but not putting people in immediate danger of damage or death[1].
First, thanks:
- to the sun, for having a lovely day on which it's impossible to be annoyed
- to D-at-work, for suggesting I work from home
- to the bus driver of the Citi 6, who stopped at the bus stop solely to tell the people waiting that the 15 had broken down
Second, what went wrong:
Plan A: Catch first outbound #15 of day. Foiled when it doesn't come within 45 min.
Plan B: Catch second outbound #15 of day from bar hill. Foiled when citi #5 to bar hill doesn't come.
At this point stagecoach have a choice. 45 min later, the vehicle scheduled for the second #15 of the day becomes available, but this is scheduled to leave from bar hill. The choice seems to be (a) use the vehicle to run the entire route of the first #15, thus creating a delay of 1 hour 2 minutes for all people waiting for the first bus, and a delay of 2 minutes for all people waiting for the second bus or (b) stick to the schedule, ensuring a delay of 1 hour or nothing along the majority of the route, and a delay of 2 hours for people waiting for the first leg of the first bus. I know people with a firm faith in schedule may prefer the latter, but given the eccentricity of the bus schedules to start with, I can't help but think the former would be much more actually helpful. (To be frank, I can't see why they don't just schedule the second bus two minutes later to start with, and have the same route for that as all the others.)
(To be fair, possibly there were good reasons I didn't realise for the choice even if it seemed eccentric to me.)
Plan C: Hope stagecoach will take option (a). Foiled when second #15 drives past tauntingly displaying "not in service".
Plan D: Work at home. Rant about it on LJ later. This seemed to work.
Footnote
Except cyclists. If one supposes that Stagecoach buses are the agents of karmic retribution, I dread to think what sins Cambridge cyclists accumulated on the last cycle of the Wheel. Presumably they are reincarnations of souls eventually incarnated as the lowest forms of insects, and then came the sort of ants who heard a mythological hero weeping in frustration over a basket of mixed grains they needed to separate to keep their word, their love, or their honour, and instead of helping, laughed at them, and beat up the ants who helped.