December 14, 2019 A trip to Fifth Street Station

Since March, I've been trying my best to drive only when necessary. This is due to my belief that we all need to take individual actions to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. But it's also due to my belief that driving everywhere leads to isolation and results in communities that are not healthy. I've spent a number of years writing about how Charlottesville makes its decisions about where buildings go, where roads go. This year I began to offer my thoughts more candidly, such as in this C-Ville Weekly piece about transit that ran in May. 

I've spent a lot of time on the bus since, tweeting my journeys as I learned how to use the system we have now. I don't believe it's a perfect system, and I have wanted to offer constructive criticism. We have the system we have for reasons that are hard for many to understand. Many people call for reform, but do they know how to change things? I do not know, but I want to offer up what I know. 

And what I know comes from my experience. I am no expert, but I am a writer who wants to document his time alive. I was alive yesterday as I tweeted this journey. This is from a thread that I thought I would re-purpose as part of my ongoing experimentation. 

***

Today is a non-drive day and I am headed to 5th Street Station to meet with my parents. 

The driver of the trolley-style bus waits as I run towards the stop. I mistimed my walk slightly. 

A student with luggage gets off at the Amtrak station. Travel is in the air

I sit in the sun on a copy of a Halprin chair waiting for the 12. It’s going to be some time. For the first time in a week i just sit and stare into space and try not to think. Thinking leads to worry.

The benches face the sun. 

Correction. It’s the 2. Not the 12. And now I am on it. I didn’t expect a visit from my parents and I had already marked today as a non-driving day. So I have to stick to that. I drove on Wednesday and Friday this week, and that was too much.

While waiting for the 2, I renewed my CAT pass for another 30 days.

The Downtown Transit Center was completed in 2008 and was paid for by a federal grant. This is why all most of the routes travel there. 

I am so used to taking the 6 that I am jarred when the 2 does not make the left hand turn onto Monticello. This is a pretty fast journey to a shopping center I never go to. I am glad I didn’t have to drive.

This is the second phase of William Taylor Plaza, a "planned unit development" that ended up as a hotel and a block of apartments. 

From the bus I see a stormwater facility I have never noticed before. This is designed to take all the water from this parking lot. All of that water goes somewhere.

I love the view from the bus, seeing things you wouldn't see, things that maybe aren't meant to be seen. All of this water drains to Moores Creek. 

Every time I come to 5th Street Station, I think about what a lost opportunity. This was built for the 20th century, not the 21st. I am walking across a sea of asphalt.

I wrote extensively about the rezoning that made this happen. That happened at the beginning of the last recession

I look back and the 2 is still parked there. It finally moves off. The bus just stops in the middle of the center before heading up to Avon. It doesn’t stop near the gigantic grocery store. The Food Lion looks nice from here.

The Food Lion is sort of visible from this space. 

Now I am racing to get back to the bus stop, dodging people shopping. I had a nice meal with my parents at the Wegman's cafe and now it’s on for the rest of the work weekend.

An hour ago the bus waited for several minutes at the stop. This time it did not. I have missed it. There is another in half an hour. I will go back and see my folks a bit longer.

They're still in Wegmans, shopping for British goods they can't get anymore in Lynchburg. There are hundreds of people shopping here, and I'm overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people. This is not the same demographic of people who shop at the Food Lion.

***

It's time to go. This time the 2 stops for a minute so. No one else gets on. Everyone gets here by driving. Wegmans was packed. I felt like an alien in there. Glad to be back on a bus where I feel at home.

I still need to do research into the mounds on which these trees have been built. 

The bus stops by the park and ride lot. It’s a driver shift change. The new driver inspects the bus. He chats with the first one. I don’t know the rest of this journey. Not sure where I get off. I have a stomachache, like Chidi from the Good Place. I try to see if there's time to see my friend for a few minutes, but she's already left.

Now I am on the Mall. This feels better. My nervousness is having a party, still, and I am glad I will soon be back at a place I can get back to work. I will sit at Rapture and get some work done.

It's not perfect, but it's home. 

I hope that we can do better as the 21st century proceeds. I'm still not very used to offering public opinions. I don't want to just point out problems. I want to offer solutions.

Several Hours Later

I make my choice as an individual to drive as little as possible. I am on board a 6 back home. When I get there, I will resume reading through the transit development plan that Council will consider on Monday night. I have many questions. Until then I ride with fellow passengers.

Tonight at Rapture I met someone who moved here a year ago or so who doesn’t have a car. He lives in City Walk and works at Uva. That was very encouraging. People do rely on transit. We can make it better.

At Burnet Commons, the driver helps a man who needs a walker get off the bus. The man is someone I see on this route a lot. I said hello. He said hello. I love that. I love feeling human when I move around my community.

That would not have happened if I'd decided to drive today.