Greening Austin Daily

Wrap up of Riding the Express Bus

7th July, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments

As promised, I have a wrap up of my month of riding the express bus.  My experience was chronicled, in probably too much detail, here, here, here, and here.  My daily fare ended up being $2.63 each day, which is probably about the same I amount I would have spent daily in gas.  However, it was nice to not have to worry about all the strange noises my car was making on the commute to work, and instead just sit back in the AC and read a book or fall asleep on the person next to me. I will definitely try to take it every other month – I think it’s a nice change of pace and committing to  one month at a time is very doable.  If I had to ride it every single day I would probably get agitated with the time spent waiting for the bus, but it’s a nice break to not have to drive myself  in stop-and-go traffic for roughly 1.25 hours a day.

Some tips for riding the express bus:

• use this trip planner to figure out what bus you need to take.
• the buses are not always on time, so get to the bus stop a few minutes early just in case.
• make the most of not having to drive by bringing a book or your laptop (the buses have free wi-fi!)
• bring a sweater if you get cold easy – I usually found that unless I brought a sweater, I would be too cold to fall asleep.
• wear some comfy shoes for the walk to and from the bus stop
• Keep an umbrella in your car (if you drive to the Express bus parking lot, which is what I did) and in your office/locker or backpack/purse so you don’t end up having to wait in the rain for the bus.
• Plan to get the most bang for your buck by trying out the bus during a month where you aren’t going to be missing work or school to go on a vacation.