Public transit

I've been writing quite a bit about modes of transportation - might be time to set up a link-collecting page. Before that, let's talk about public transit.

This weekend I finally made use of the local bus system - one line, for starters. Last weekend I walked to get my groceries, but aside from the time and effort involved, it's not necessarily the most effective way to preserve the more perishable items when one goes home.

It took me a bit of adjustment, but ultimately most public transit systems have settled on a combination of NFC-enabled smart cards and mobile phones, and that served me here.

The buses are pretty much the same as they were where I last lived, although those had been upgraded farther in recent years, and have always been more frequent. Places that have better transit networks have made me feel much freer even than when I've driven a car - I just need to decide where to go, and especially today with path-creating mapping programs, it's very easy to get places through the use of a combination of buses and trains.

This area so far has not made me feel as comfortable. Even if it did, I do think getting a car would be required, although even if the coverage or frequency were better, it's unlikely I would want to limit myself from taking long road trips to the various hiking destinations that are not very accessible through transit themselves.