Public Transportation in da UP

In order to get to work, I ride the Al Tran public bus transportation system. They pick me up from Bluff St. in Marquette at 8 a.m. and drop me off at Grand Island Landing (the ferry dock). Luckily I have a $100 bus pass, which ends up costing approximately $2.50 one-way as opposed to the $6 without the pass.

One of the largest downsides of living in the country/rural area in the U.S.A./UP is that the public transportation system is drastically lacking. If I’m not at that bus stop before 8 a.m. or back on the mainland in time to make the bus, I’m screwed. I cannot get to work or home. There is a bus I can catch an hour later on my return to Marquette but it doesn’t take me completely to Marquette. It’ll drop me off in Harvey which is six miles from Marquette. Walking home from there wouldn’t be all that fun considering how badly I need a shower after work.

Some of the characters who ride the bus are quite a riot. Last year there was a Mexican man who asked my coworker and I, if Lake Superior was the Pacific Ocean. I’m still unsure of whether he believed us. Another man road because he had his license revoked due to drunk driving and yes he complained rather extensively every day. And a woman who also had her license revoked due to drunk driving but brought her high strung dog on board without a leash (and yes the dog would greet me whether I encouraged it or not). This year we’ve had some rather disgruntled housekeepers from various hotels in Christmas and Munising, Michigan and some car enthusiasts. I wish that I could retain the information from the car enthusiasts shared at a more fundamental level. Basic car maintenance would make much more sense to me if I could.

Tokyo: Waiting for the last train.

When I studied abroad in Japan, I was introduced to the concept of public transportation. I spent the summer riding the trains to see the sights and riding a bicycle to get around Hikone, the town in which I was staying. They have trains that can get you within walking distance of just about anything (minus the mountain villages). I got to ride a night bus to Tokyo and would’ve ridden the Shinkansen or “Bullet Train” if I had had the money and time to go Hiroshima. 

I really wish that we had something that was that accessible to the U.S.A. Our dependency of cars would be greatly reduced if we did.