2010-10-04

Make a date for the 108.

In my early teens, I figured out that a bus and a train could get me OUT of Hingham and into Boston and/or Cambridge in fairly short order. The hour or so it took was worth it. I could spend an entire day poking through record and vintage stores, far removed from the collective critical glare of my classmates (and in some cases, their parents). At the time, I did not consider the commute a hardship.

I have spent most of my "adult" life in the city proper, always within walking distance of a subway stop. Up until last week, it took me no more than 15 minutes - door-to-door - to get to my office. I was terribly cavalier about the whole thing, grimacing in fake sympathy as my coworkers bewailed their "hairy" commutes every morning. I'd watch these same coworkers race out the door every afternoon, muttering darkly about their chances of catching "the 6:05." I could be blithely, infuriatingly nonchalant about my departure time. If I missed a train....there'd be another one in under 10 minutes. No biggie. And so it went for years.

Then I moved to the 'burbs.

In exchange for my back porch and yard, I got the added complication of a bus ride to the nearest subway station. Because I now have a dishwasher and a trash compactor, I have to consult bus schedules before I agree to stay past 5 to work on something.

For a few more square feet and a washer/dryer in the basement, I must ride the #108.

My commute is now roughly an hour, give or take. The #108 goes from Linden Square to Malden Center, making about 532 stops along the way. The bus is empty when I board; when I disembark, it's alongside 1,330 other people (my calculation being 532 stops, picking up an average of 2.5 passengers at each stop...very precise, it is).

The houseboy made the trip with me this morning. This house has been in his family since 1940. He spent his formative years here, and knows this bus ride well, despite not having had to take it since the early 90s. We boarded the bus at about 7:44, assuming it was the 7:45. We were informed, by the cranky-no-nonsense driver I recognized from the 7:55, that this was - in fact - NOT the 7:45. "She hasn't been showing up. I come up Salem Street...there's no other 108 but mine. I didn't pass her, you guys have been waiting here at Linden, so, I dunno. But I can't leave here for another 9 minutes."

A large gentlemen in a Patriots cap and a blue parka immediately addressed the passengers thus: "You want better service? You want more buses? Yer gonna have t'PAY. If I ran things, I'd make all the politicians get REAL jobs. Take away their pahking spaces." He paused, shifting his bulk, then went on at length about the Patriots' lackluster defense.

The 7:55 lurched away from Linden, and made the first of its 532 stops, picking up a couple of sodden passengers who'd been shafted by the capricious, mercurial 7:45. As these waterlogged folks struggled to retrieve their Charlie Cards, juggling dripping umbrellas and slick travel mugs, Patriots Cap helpfully proffered, "Guess the last bus never showed up, huh? Well, you want better service? You want more buses? Yer gonna have t'PAY. If *I* ran things..."

The third time he said this, the houseboy's brow furrowed momentarily, then his eyes widened in recognition. "This guy was on the 108 when I used to take it to HIGH SCHOOL," he whispered. He didn't seem to know whether to find this comforting or horrifying. I searched the faces of my fellow passengers. They all wore expressions of weary resignation. One of them caught my eye, smiled sadly and said, "It's the same thing every morning."

The bus picked up more and more people until it could hold no more. "Yer all gonna have to start sittin' on each other's LAPS," Patriots Cap hollered. Pleased with this bon mot, he repeated it 5 more times, in between his regular announcements that if we wanted more buses, we were going to have t'PAY.

"We're already paying," the houseboy mumbled.

Me, I can't decide if I want to continue taking the 7:55, or get up earlier still to make the 7:35, since the 7:45 may or may not even exist. If I'm going to spend all this time on the bus, I may as well be entertained.

lisamcc at 11:23 a.m.

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