All tales from Route 21
Help, I need somebody
I looked up from my magazine at the noises of consternation erupting throughout the bus . We’d taken a wrong turn. As we looped through a grocery store parking lot, the driver apologized and joked with the people in the front of the bus. Momentarily united, they spontaneously, unbelievably, began to […]
Four Calls
I thought I would spare my friend the hassle of coming all the way to pick me up in Minneapolis, so I just bussed over to St. Paul with the help of the 21. This was my first experience taking this route, and boy, was it a good one.
I Drove the Getaway Bus
I was driving an eastbound 21. A man boarded at Marshall and Cretin, carrying a loaded pillow-case (not unusual - there’s a laudromat up the street). He just walked past the farebox; after a block or two I asked for his fare. “I showed you my pass” he said. I asked to […]
Drug-trade lingo
Before my present address I lived in a halfway house for recovering addicts. As required, we all attended a minimum of two meeting a week. On the way to one such meeting, some guys offered to sell my friends some Ecstasy (calling them, I believe, “thizzles” or something). After responding to the offer in the […]
Justice on the Bus
“I’ve got your back.” Not words I am used to hearing, not in real life, certainly not directed at me. Until yesterday on my way home from work, I’ve never had occasion to feel emboldened by these words. It felt great. For the first time ever I could detect a hint of the security one […]
Too old for me
So I’m on the loooong bus ride from my job in downtown St. Paul to meet some friends at a bar in Uptown. I’m in the very back row. We’ve just crossed the river when a pretty good-looking man gets on and sits down on those sideways-facing seats in the back. I’ll admit, I’m […]
Nothing turns a girl on more
Coming home from my brother’s late one night this past winter, I hopped on the 21 to Uptown. About two stops into my ride, a man got on and sat next to me on an otherwise empty bus. I, of course, was pretending to be sleeping, but there’s something about an uninterested person […]
Fight annoying with annoying
I was pleased to see someone on the bus this morning fight annoying with annoying. It was at least an entire block before the next stop and I watched as an impatient woman in a window seat began shuffling around, eventually standing up and asking the girl next to her to let her out. So […]
It’s just a movie
I was heading home from work today, and just so happened to get on a bus driven by my friend Valerie (we went through training together and always chat when we get the chance). She told me that earlier in the evening she had pulled up to a stop on East Lake and seen a […]
Pajamas and a bath robe
In the early ’80s I had a night route on the 21. Once, at about 11PM, the bus was westbound approaching Lake and 36th. There was a bright moon, making everything stand out in sharp relief. The night was warm for January and there had been a good deal of snow that […]
This transfer is no good
Long, long ago, before the buses had electronic fare boxes, drivers issued paper transfers and had to check them visually when they were presented. Also, long, long ago MTC, as it was called then, didn’t have its own police force. It hired off-duty police from various departments.
Sleeps with the buses
About 7 years ago, I rode the entire route from downtown St. Paul to its layover back them near the Uptown Rainbow. I was really pregnant at the time, and few people will give up their seats for a pregnant woman. Strangely, this packed bus, with people standing in the aisle had one […]
Get what you pay for
So after a string of car-related mishaps (none my fault of course) I dropped the car at the body shop for the second time in a week, and hopped on the 21 to get to work. Two blocks later the bus engine starts making a really loud noise. The driver pulls over and turns off […]
Give me attention!
I got onto the bus and saw that the only seat open was next to a blind man with his seeing eye dog. I had no problem with that… I love dogs. I do know, however, that it’s probably in my best interest to leave the dog, and consequently the man, alone. However, the […]
Who’s got the keys to the bus?
This happened about fifteen years ago to a driver named Chuck. He was making his last trip of the night, from Hennipen and Lagoon to Selby and Snelling. This was back in the days of paper transfers, when the driver would tear a transfer off a book mounted in the transfer cutter. […]
I will body slam you!
This happened a couple of years ago: this guy got on the 21 and paid for his fare entirely in pennies and nickels. It came up to 97 cents, still shy of the $1.25 that the fare was at the time. The bus driver said, “It’s fine, go sit down,” but somehow the passenger […]
observations/thoughts/memories
This is from an email I sent right before I moved away from St. Paul. I took the bus for four years…and it was, well, quite a trip!
You’re sleeping with me
Usually the 53/21 is pretty tame but this is the story I like to tell all of my friends about why riding the bus can be so much fun! (warning: bad language)
The world is not wheelchair accessible
Heading eastbound on the 21 last Sunday, a youngish man in a wheelchair got off the bus at Lake St. and Hiawatha across the street from Target. He then started to zip across Lake St. at top speed
Will you marry me?
I got on the Selby-Lake bus heading toward Minneapolis and a man sat down in front of me and began proposing marriage and even went so far as to try to put a ring on my finger.
Massive Loogie
This happened several years ago, but I remember it very clearly. I was listening to my headphones when I heard a loud hacking sound (loud enough to cut into Foo Fighter’s Monkey wrench at full blast). The guy in front of me then opened his window and spit. I wish that’s where it ended, but […]
First throw-up story
I’ve read through all of the tales here and am happy to see that I am the first with a good ol’ fashioned throw-up story. I got on the bus with my boyfriend and we were lucky enough to find an empty two seater. I sat next to the window, and about 2 minutes into […]
Everyone wants to know the answer
Talkative homeless guy: How did you go blind?
Everyone on the bus within a 10 foot radius stops what they were doing
Talkative homeless guy: I mean, were you born that way or did something happen?
Blind guy: I was in a car accident as a child, I don’t actually remember the accident. I was really young.
Talkative homeless […]
