Upcoming...

I've had over 2,500 views (probably about 500 of those are mine as I post and edit) on this blog since its inception four years ago, including look-sees as far away as Alaska! I still get too few comments and feedback, but I am grateful to those who read it. It shows that my efforts are not in vain.

I am sorry that I don't post more regularly, but I hope to address this over the next few months. I've got some fabulous articles in the works, including:

--How to Ride a Bus 101
--Auditions for the Not-Quite-Fare-Ready Riders troupe
--A Sunday Kind of COTA
--Dangerous Cut-and-Runners

and many more!

And I will continue my campaign to rid our buses of those loathsome plastic garbage bags!

So say tuned, and again, thanks!

Another Bus Stop to Nowhere: Graceland

The Graceland shopping center has seen a resurgence of sorts in the past 10 years. While many 1960s-era shopping centers are shut down and shuttered, Graceland is a popular shopping destination for north Columbus residents, and includes a Target, a Kroger, among other consumerist haunts. So why is this bus stop to nowhere still in existence?
This lonely spot at the very end of Graceland--the last of two stops inside the shopping center--is notable for its absolute lack of any amenities for the beleaguered COTA rider (unlike many stops, it DOES have a garbage can). It's a good stretch, probably about 100 yards, from the nearby Kroger (hence, the preponderance of shopping carts seen below), and if you are elderly or otherwise physically disabled, it has to be quite a chore to lug your groceries to it. Fuhgettaboudit, if you happen to be stranded there during inclement weather.

The spot does have a nice view of a meadow, behind which is a park that lines the banks of the Olentangy River. But most visitors to the spot are trying to get home, not sight-see or take a nature walk.

With the development boom transforming Columbus, it's a safe bet that open space's days are numbered. Should development reach this lonely spot, perhaps the powers that be COTA might consider upgrading this stop. My suggestion would be to move the stop to the parking lot lane that the bus already rolls through on its way to this outpost. It's close to the store, and would not impede parking-lot traffic, and would be a hell of a lot less an ordeal for those lugging groceries home from here.

The future is: PLASTICS (as in COTA garbage bags)

Readers who follow this blog know I abhor the sheaves of plastic garbage bags that COTA feels compelled to offer its il-litter-ate customers, many of whom use them as seat covers, which end up on the floor and often out the door to add to our tremendous stream of plastic garbage. Here's a recent scene on the bus--though I have seen worse when I did not have my camera on me; on a recent day, I counted more than 15 of these horrible bags littering the seats and floor of a bus. More than one driver has told me they are tired of picking them up day after day. I cringe every time I see a selfish rider pull off a bag and spread it over their seat. My dander rises even more when the lazy bums just leave them there when they disembark. Riders seem to think, like many people these days in general seem to do, that "someone else" will come along and pick up after their asses. WRONG, PEOPLE! BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR TRASH, AND PICK THAT BAG UP AFTER YOU'VE SPREAD YOUR ASS OVER IT.



While I always find this annoying to see on the bus, THIS had me totally incensed when I spotted it in the community garden next door to my building last month.




And no, I did not "plant" the bag there. A few days later, again without my camera, I saw no more than FIVE COTA bags littering the lawn of a building that houses doctors' offices at 18th Avenue and East Main Street.

COTA buses had ads that boasted about its new "green" headquarters downtown a couple of years ago. The authority won some kind of award for the "green" features built into the North High Street building it occupies downtown. I propose that the award be rescinded until COTA cleans up its act, and gets rid of these loathsome plastic bags.

Our Filthy Bus Stops: The garbage dump in front of the Health Department

I pass by the bus stop at East Main Street and Parsons Avenue nearly everyday. At that corner stands the stately, neo-Gothic pile that serves as the headquarters for the Franklin County Health Department. Its first incarnation was as the Ohio School for the Deaf, and also the Ohio School for the Blind. One of its students, a Toledo boy, who learned to play piano there during his residency in the 1930s, went on to become the world-renowned jazz pianist Art Tatum. Roland Rashaan Kirk, known for his ability to play two saxophones at once, also spent time there. In the late 1990s, the building was totally renovated and became the Health Department.



The building is surrounded by an original, wrought-iron fence and within is a beautiful, expansive green campus dotted with large, century-old oak trees. The vista, however, often is marred by unsightly trash left by patrons of the Health Department who wait at the stop on the corner for their bus.

Last fall, this was the scene--for more than two weeks!





Those potato chips did not disintegrate over the entire two-week period! And during that time, trash began to migrate over the fence into the Health Department campus.



Granted, the area abuts the infamous "split" where Interstates 70 and 71 intersect near downtown, and admittedly, just about any major interstate exit and junction tends to act as catch-all for all manner of garbage. These scenes were taken just across Parsons Avenue from the bus stop.






The stop has no trash can even though my experience shows the presence of a trash receptacle does not guarantee it will be used. Still, it would be nice to have the option.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I took this photo while passing by on a Reynoldsburg-bound No. 2:



So the cycle begins anew. Pretty ironic, eh?

Despicable COTA plastic bags have a use after all

Finally! Someone has figured out a use for those earth-killing plastic bags that COTA feels compelled to place for "passenger convenience" on their buses.

A few months ago, I was riding the #2 North High Street line, headed downtown. One of the resident COTA crazies got on--I've seen her before, once cursing a bus driver a blue streak for some alleged wrong--and pulled one of the bags off the rack, sat down, and proceeded to barf inside the bag.

"Awww, that's better!" she said to no one in particular, as several other rider/witnesses attempted to keep their own gag reflexes in check.

She sat behind the bus driver, who asked her, "Are you OK?"

"Yeah, why you askin'?"

"Well, I think you need to get off the bus, if you're sick," said the female bus driver, an attractive strawberry blonde who reminds me of young Sissy Spacek.

"Why? I ain't doin' nothin'," the puker spat, indignation rising in her voice (I've seen her thrown off the bus before for cursing loudly at another rider for no apparent reason).

"Well, you're spewing bodily fluids, and that's a potential danger to other passengers," the driver replied.

"Oh bullshit, it's in the bag," Pukey responded. "It ain't gonna get on anyone."

I have to admit the bag did hold the puke in check. I watched it dangle back and forth from her wrist, waiting for it to leak.

"I can't allow you to expose passengers to potentially harmful bodily fluids," the driver insisted.

Pukey got adamant, and said, "I'm getting off at the next stop (South High Street and State Street) anyway."

She did, and casually tossed the puke-laden COTA bag into the trashcan (thankfully, and not in the street, where I see so many COTA bags these days).

Now whenever I get that all-too-frequent urge to puke while on the bus, I'll just reach for a handy COTA barf bag!