Bus Report #1065

372 days since my last bus ride, I got on the 38 Geary outbound towards the V.A. Hospital today.

It is an understatement to say it has been a long year. A very, very long year. 

I've been on foot, mostly, or in cars - getting motion sick every time. I never get motion sick on Muni. 

I've spent a lot of time this year slowly sipping Cokes, trying to regain my equilibrium after a car ride. At the office, at home.

I had to go to the library and since my local branch three blocks away is still closed, the nearest one is 25 blocks away, uphill. And I don't always want to walk, to be honest. There are some desolate blocks of Geary between my apartment and the library, and they've only grown more windswept, empty, and quiet during the pandemic.

I unzipped the side pocket on my bag, where I keep my Clipper card, reaching in for the card so I could check the cash balance - I haven't opened that pocket or bought a monthly pass since March 2020. The receipt, kept as proof, was still tucked behind the card in my card holder. 

I called Clipper and was happy to hear I still had $14 on the card. Leftover from my last BART ride to Oakland.

Checked Next Bus, two buses en route in the next fifteen minutes. Jacket on. Books tucked into totebag. Triple-layer face mask on. Walked out to the bus stop as though I did it every day. As though it was still normal.

The bus arrived and I got on, chose an empty seat near the back. 

Friends, can I tell you how happy I was to be on the bus? How I looked around at the handful of other passengers, all of us masked and silent, and I almost cried? 

My city, our city, looks better from the height of the bus than it does on foot. I've walked that 25 blocks a dozen times since that library branch reopened but seeing it from the bus, it just... filled me with joy. Truly.

The woman sitting in the rightmost seat in the back got out by the burger place. The man who had been in the leftmost seat wore a camo-patterned mask while he studied a sheaf of papers he took from a manila envelope. He got out by the discount grocery store. 

I've been trying to avoid making eye contact with people lately, but I caught his eyes just before he hopped out. Dark brown under bushy eyebrows.

I'm rusty, could not remember how many stops until my own. Pulled the signal cord just in time, and got out onto a sun-drenched block of Geary. 

I could've danced to the library - it felt so good to be taking Muni again. 

On my way back from the library a few minutes later, I took the bus for a few blocks just to be on it, sat in the back, enjoying the quiet and the familiarity, the wheeze of the hydraulics, reading the signage about mask requirements and how to properly sit distanced from each other on the bus.

I got out at 28th, calling a loud 'thank you' to my driver.

I walked the rest of the way home, plotting my next rides, feeling the 'Miss Rachel's Neighborhood' vibe coming back.

It's not all blue skies yet, but they're coming back, friends. 

And I am looking forward to bringing you along with me.

(extra thanks for the encouragement to get back on the bus from Michael and C.)