Commuting adventures

[kareina]

 The weather is still above freezing so all of the streets have been covered with a thick layer of gravel to keep the wet ice from being too slippery, but don’t try to walk anywhere without gravel if you don’t have metal spikes on the bottom of your shoes.

 

This morning I could see that the bus was running a little late, so I took the time to do a little tidying up before leaving the house, and still was able to head out the door about 20 minutes before it should arrive. Normally it is a 15 minute walk to the bus stop, and I can do it in 13 when the roads are dry. Today I took the full 20 minutes so as to not have a risk of falling on the ice, but kept checking the bus progress, so I could be certain there was no risk of missing it.

 

Once I arrived at the bus stop it still showed as nine minutes away, but the north bound bus, which normally comes after my south bound bus was already there picking up people. This time I actually went into the building and took of my backpack, computer bag, coat and boots and did some stretches. And it still showed as nine minutes away. So I zoomed in on the map to the bus location, and it was standing at a buss stop, not moving. So I did more stretches, and it kept not moving. The buss heading northbound arrived, picked up people and left. My bus kept not moving.

 

Eventually, I backed out of the information for that bus, and looked at all the buses on the way to my stop, and saw that there was another that would arrive in half an hour. I checked its gps page, and it was moving. Went back to the page for the first bus. Still not moving. Another north bound bus arrived and left. My bus still not moving. Looked at the page for the next bus, it was getting close to where my bus was. Went back out to look at my bus, but it no longer had a visible page. So I returned to the page of the rescue bus, and saw it arrive at the same place my bus had been sitting, stop for a while, and then start driving. That driver must not have cared about speed limits, as it was only about six minutes later that the bus reached us in Lövånger, with the driver of the other bus and the passengers that had been in that bus. I asked, and it was bus problems, not road condition problems that were to blame, and they were sending a tow truck to fetch the bus later.

 

The bus driver made good time, and so I was only an hour later to the office than usual, and 30 minutes before my meeting, so that was all good.

 

After my meeting I did more archive work, and got to a good breaking point in time to catch the early bus home, at 12:40. But the bus app wasn’t working properly, and not showing where any buses were, nor what their schedule was. I decided to risk it, and walked out there anyway, and the bus arrived exactly on time, and took me away. After I had been on the bus about 20 minutes I checked the app again, and now it shows that the 14:30 bus I normally take (which is the next bus after the 12:40 I am on) is canceled. Given that one bus didn’t make it this morning, it makes sense that one of the buses was canceled, and I am very glad I decided to take the earlier bus--the next option after the canceled one doesn’t leave Umeå till 16:50!

 

So instead of heading home in a very crowed bus after sunset, I am happily on a nearly empty bus on a pretty, sunny afternoon, enjoying the views of the pretty Swedish farmhouses, with their very, very icy and wet driveways, as it is + 8 C out.

 

Keldor is running some errands for work, so the plan is for me to stay on the bus a bit closer to town, and meet him at one of the bus stops, and then we can have a date drive home together.

Comments

[redbird]

happily, not the sort of adventures that make you late for dinner.

Appls with real-time bus and other transit information are great, especially if they are given enough data to tell you well in advance if a bus has been cancelled.

[katerit]

Excellent timing on your part.