My Life as a Former Bus Rider
I want to write about my experience on the buses and light rail. It feels important to tell my story so others may understand better and see the world in a different way. It feels like important work.
I should warn you there is quite a bit of bus details because my point is to share the fullest extent of what it was like for me being a bus rider. It's okay if you don't understand or if you skip around. If you have the time I'd recommend looking them up. If not just know it was just as exhausting living it as it probably is reading it.
My first summer in Denver was spent learning about Denver, its culture, certain landmarks, how to ride public transportation, checking out different churches, and about the homeless population. It was a lot to take in initially. Denver is very different from small town Iowa.
I remember the very first time I rode on a bus here, and I was terrified of getting off on the wrong stop, getting on it on the wrong side of the street, of the people on the bus/at the bus stop, and of getting lost. It did happen a few times, one of which I was trying to get to my therapy session at Mile High Ministries but somehow ended up on the wrong bus and going the complete opposite direction! That was embarrassing to tell my therapist at the time. It was also rather terrifying because I had no idea where I was in the city and I wasn't sure how to get back to where I was staying initially. I think I later learned that the bus I rode was one I would ride for a year and a half; bus #52. Either that or it was bus #9 going the opposite direction. I don't quite remember. What I do remember is being very much so lost in an unfamiliar city alone.
That being said, let me take you on my journey of bus riding and walking everywhere from the moment I first officially moved to Denver.
I didn't have a bus pass for the first four months of living in Colorado. There was a few individual bus pass booklets left over from the summer which I used sparingly and then just walked everywhere otherwise. I wouldn't get a monthly pass until January of 2017 for something I'll mention a bit later. When I first moved here I would walk to church every Sunday from Capitol Hill to Highlands Church North Denver, which would take me around 45 minutes to an hour depending on how fast I walked. I would typically ride the free mall ride from Civic Center to Union Station to help cut down on the time walking. Oftentimes I would do this multiple times a week because I was a part of a few different deepen groups or events that met there. So it would be around two hours of walking each time I went. When I would go to the grocery store it would be about a 10-15 minute walk to and then from, with the return journey of me carrying all my groceries. After a few times of doing this I got smart and put the heaviest items in my backpack. When I would go to Cheesman Park it would take about 15 minutes of walking to and from. Going to work took me around 15-ish minutes of walking during the time I lived in Capitol Hill. Essentially I did a lot of walking for the first year I was in Denver.
Then we get to January of 2017 when I got my first monthly bus pass. I got it because one of the people I was living with, a college student, was afraid to ride public transportation by herself and so I bought myself a bus pass in order to help her not be so afraid to ride the bus/train. I did that for about five months while she was in Denver- every day after work I would walk back home, hop on bus #12, and wait for her to get off the A-line in order to then catch the 12 back home. She appreciated it, I think. After that I just got so used to having a monthly bus pass that I just kept getting them. Also because it was easier and less tiring to get around by bus than by foot. During this time I now rode bus #32 from downtown to Highlands every Sunday and also multiple times a week, and bus #15/15L up and down Colfax. That was an interesting time. Colfax and downtown are interesting places to be when you're constantly going around on your own be it on foot or by bus. I learned real quick how to walk in such a way that people would leave you alone and not want to mess with you. My theatre training came in handy! Because you know what they say- "Fake it till you make it".
If I wanted to go anywhere I had to plan out my day in advance or even just plan out my bus route before leaving- both going to and going from my destination. An example is when I wanted to go to Walmart I would have to catch the 15/15L going East from Colfax and Downing, get off at Monaco Parkway, hop on the 65 going North, get off at roughly Quebec and 35th (I think) and then walk the last five minutes to Walmart. That took about and hour to, and hour there, and then an hour back going in reverse of that. And the Walmart trip is just one example of what doing any sort of errands looked like. It's the reason why I could only choose one errand per day to do simply because there wasn't enough time in the day to go to multiple locations by bus, unless I planned it really well and efficiently, depending on the errands. It was a lot, and it was tiring! There were also many characters out and about at bus stops and oftentimes on the bus. I sometimes felt safer just walking!
Okay, now's the time to brace yourself- it's bus detail time.
When I moved to the Berkley area I rode the 52 to and from work each day, plus a five minute walk to the bus stop and a 15 minute walk to my job once I got off the bus in rush hour traffic downtown. That bus ride took about 30 minutes on a good day. If I were to go get groceries it would be a three hour affair- one to get there, one to get food and wait, and one to get back, unless I went after work and made it more efficient which I often did. I was lucky living here because I could often ride with my roommate to church on Sundays, but when I didn't I walked 18 minutes to catch the 31 at 50th and Federal. That was only a 7-10 minute ride to 32nd and Federal and then a five minute walk to the church.
Then this year of wild times happened in which I moved four times, among other things. I stayed a month up in Thornton and getting around up there by public transportation is definitely not the easiest! It would take me 24 minutes to walk to the bus that would take me downtown, i.e. the 12, and then the nearest bus was a 10 minute walk to the 92. The 12 took around 45 minutes from 98th and Grant to 22nd and Downing. After a while I learned I could take the 39L from Union Station which shortened the trip a bit (25 minutes) even though I still had about an 18 minute walk from the bus stop at 104th and Marion. I liked that walk because it was so scenic, even though (or maybe especially because) it was the middle of the winter. When I was in Glendale I rode the 46 to get groceries, the 11 to Louisiana/Pearl station or Broadway station for the light rail, and then sometimes the 40. My path to church: For Highlands- 46 to Colorado station, F/H line to theater district station, 32/28/44 to either 32nd and Clay, 28th and Zuni, or 31st and Tejon; Left Hand- 46 to Colorado station, E line to Union Station, LD1 to Longmont.
When I was near Alameda and S. Carr street my trek to work was a 5 minute walk to the 3, then at Alameda station the F/H line, then a 15 minute walk. Going to Left Hand I took the 3, then the E line, and then the LD1. Going to Highlands I walked 10 minutes to the 76 and then got on the 32. Where I am now and what I have been doing up until getting a car was the following. To go to work I walked 15 minutes to catch the 100L from 4th and Union, roughly 30 minutes on the bus, then approximately an 18 minute walk to work from Civic Center. For Highlands it was 20-ish minutes of walking to the W line and then either the 31 at Decatur/Federal station or the 32 from downtown. For Left Hand it was 20-ish minutes of walking to the W line (25 minutes to Union Station) and then the LD1, which was an hour on that bus.
Are you, my reader, lost?
Me too.
Does your brain hurt as much as mine does?
When a person rides the bus they are forced to follow its schedule and time table. It is incredibly freeing to have control over my own time again.
My point isn't to exhaust you with seemingly unnecessary details- it's to share with you a slice of my life outside of where you all generally see me and a window into how I got to you all to spend time with you all. Every minute was worth it to me, and I regret nothing. I get to be grateful now to have a car and to not need to worry about those things any longer, though I will still ride here and there. I get to have a high amount of empathy for those who are still where I was. I feel so much less stressed and it is so so so good to have chunks of time back to engage in what I love to do such as all sorts of creative pursuits and endeavors! The world has opened up to me because I took charge of my life and made a car happen. It's a huge deal.
I should warn you there is quite a bit of bus details because my point is to share the fullest extent of what it was like for me being a bus rider. It's okay if you don't understand or if you skip around. If you have the time I'd recommend looking them up. If not just know it was just as exhausting living it as it probably is reading it.
My first summer in Denver was spent learning about Denver, its culture, certain landmarks, how to ride public transportation, checking out different churches, and about the homeless population. It was a lot to take in initially. Denver is very different from small town Iowa.
I remember the very first time I rode on a bus here, and I was terrified of getting off on the wrong stop, getting on it on the wrong side of the street, of the people on the bus/at the bus stop, and of getting lost. It did happen a few times, one of which I was trying to get to my therapy session at Mile High Ministries but somehow ended up on the wrong bus and going the complete opposite direction! That was embarrassing to tell my therapist at the time. It was also rather terrifying because I had no idea where I was in the city and I wasn't sure how to get back to where I was staying initially. I think I later learned that the bus I rode was one I would ride for a year and a half; bus #52. Either that or it was bus #9 going the opposite direction. I don't quite remember. What I do remember is being very much so lost in an unfamiliar city alone.
That being said, let me take you on my journey of bus riding and walking everywhere from the moment I first officially moved to Denver.
I didn't have a bus pass for the first four months of living in Colorado. There was a few individual bus pass booklets left over from the summer which I used sparingly and then just walked everywhere otherwise. I wouldn't get a monthly pass until January of 2017 for something I'll mention a bit later. When I first moved here I would walk to church every Sunday from Capitol Hill to Highlands Church North Denver, which would take me around 45 minutes to an hour depending on how fast I walked. I would typically ride the free mall ride from Civic Center to Union Station to help cut down on the time walking. Oftentimes I would do this multiple times a week because I was a part of a few different deepen groups or events that met there. So it would be around two hours of walking each time I went. When I would go to the grocery store it would be about a 10-15 minute walk to and then from, with the return journey of me carrying all my groceries. After a few times of doing this I got smart and put the heaviest items in my backpack. When I would go to Cheesman Park it would take about 15 minutes of walking to and from. Going to work took me around 15-ish minutes of walking during the time I lived in Capitol Hill. Essentially I did a lot of walking for the first year I was in Denver.
Then we get to January of 2017 when I got my first monthly bus pass. I got it because one of the people I was living with, a college student, was afraid to ride public transportation by herself and so I bought myself a bus pass in order to help her not be so afraid to ride the bus/train. I did that for about five months while she was in Denver- every day after work I would walk back home, hop on bus #12, and wait for her to get off the A-line in order to then catch the 12 back home. She appreciated it, I think. After that I just got so used to having a monthly bus pass that I just kept getting them. Also because it was easier and less tiring to get around by bus than by foot. During this time I now rode bus #32 from downtown to Highlands every Sunday and also multiple times a week, and bus #15/15L up and down Colfax. That was an interesting time. Colfax and downtown are interesting places to be when you're constantly going around on your own be it on foot or by bus. I learned real quick how to walk in such a way that people would leave you alone and not want to mess with you. My theatre training came in handy! Because you know what they say- "Fake it till you make it".
If I wanted to go anywhere I had to plan out my day in advance or even just plan out my bus route before leaving- both going to and going from my destination. An example is when I wanted to go to Walmart I would have to catch the 15/15L going East from Colfax and Downing, get off at Monaco Parkway, hop on the 65 going North, get off at roughly Quebec and 35th (I think) and then walk the last five minutes to Walmart. That took about and hour to, and hour there, and then an hour back going in reverse of that. And the Walmart trip is just one example of what doing any sort of errands looked like. It's the reason why I could only choose one errand per day to do simply because there wasn't enough time in the day to go to multiple locations by bus, unless I planned it really well and efficiently, depending on the errands. It was a lot, and it was tiring! There were also many characters out and about at bus stops and oftentimes on the bus. I sometimes felt safer just walking!
Okay, now's the time to brace yourself- it's bus detail time.
When I moved to the Berkley area I rode the 52 to and from work each day, plus a five minute walk to the bus stop and a 15 minute walk to my job once I got off the bus in rush hour traffic downtown. That bus ride took about 30 minutes on a good day. If I were to go get groceries it would be a three hour affair- one to get there, one to get food and wait, and one to get back, unless I went after work and made it more efficient which I often did. I was lucky living here because I could often ride with my roommate to church on Sundays, but when I didn't I walked 18 minutes to catch the 31 at 50th and Federal. That was only a 7-10 minute ride to 32nd and Federal and then a five minute walk to the church.
Then this year of wild times happened in which I moved four times, among other things. I stayed a month up in Thornton and getting around up there by public transportation is definitely not the easiest! It would take me 24 minutes to walk to the bus that would take me downtown, i.e. the 12, and then the nearest bus was a 10 minute walk to the 92. The 12 took around 45 minutes from 98th and Grant to 22nd and Downing. After a while I learned I could take the 39L from Union Station which shortened the trip a bit (25 minutes) even though I still had about an 18 minute walk from the bus stop at 104th and Marion. I liked that walk because it was so scenic, even though (or maybe especially because) it was the middle of the winter. When I was in Glendale I rode the 46 to get groceries, the 11 to Louisiana/Pearl station or Broadway station for the light rail, and then sometimes the 40. My path to church: For Highlands- 46 to Colorado station, F/H line to theater district station, 32/28/44 to either 32nd and Clay, 28th and Zuni, or 31st and Tejon; Left Hand- 46 to Colorado station, E line to Union Station, LD1 to Longmont.
When I was near Alameda and S. Carr street my trek to work was a 5 minute walk to the 3, then at Alameda station the F/H line, then a 15 minute walk. Going to Left Hand I took the 3, then the E line, and then the LD1. Going to Highlands I walked 10 minutes to the 76 and then got on the 32. Where I am now and what I have been doing up until getting a car was the following. To go to work I walked 15 minutes to catch the 100L from 4th and Union, roughly 30 minutes on the bus, then approximately an 18 minute walk to work from Civic Center. For Highlands it was 20-ish minutes of walking to the W line and then either the 31 at Decatur/Federal station or the 32 from downtown. For Left Hand it was 20-ish minutes of walking to the W line (25 minutes to Union Station) and then the LD1, which was an hour on that bus.
Are you, my reader, lost?
Me too.
Does your brain hurt as much as mine does?
When a person rides the bus they are forced to follow its schedule and time table. It is incredibly freeing to have control over my own time again.
My point isn't to exhaust you with seemingly unnecessary details- it's to share with you a slice of my life outside of where you all generally see me and a window into how I got to you all to spend time with you all. Every minute was worth it to me, and I regret nothing. I get to be grateful now to have a car and to not need to worry about those things any longer, though I will still ride here and there. I get to have a high amount of empathy for those who are still where I was. I feel so much less stressed and it is so so so good to have chunks of time back to engage in what I love to do such as all sorts of creative pursuits and endeavors! The world has opened up to me because I took charge of my life and made a car happen. It's a huge deal.
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