Bus Tales » 53

Peanut butter… jar… fingers

admin — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 13:58:53 +0000

I ride the 53 each morning from Minneapolis to Saint Paul. I’ve seen people eat breakfast on the bus – a granola bar here, a Starbucks scone there. The woman sitting next to me this morning made a rather interesting – and pungent – breakfast choice: peanut butter. She proceeded to remove an entire jar of Skippy from her handbag and eat it. From the jar. With her fingers. Meditate on that for a second, okay? Peanut butter … jar … fingers. (Good luck with that Adkins diet, lady.)

Making up time

admin — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:51:52 +0000

I work for HOURCAR which means that I spend quite a bit of time biking and riding the bus around the cities to move our fleet of shared cars around and keep them in tip-top shape. Once last summer I biked over to a car at a shop on Lake Street and drove it back to its home in Uptown. I was ready to bike back down the greenway but a thunderstorm came in and it started to pour, so I walked my bike over to the Uptown Transit Station where there was a 53 bus waiting to leave. It went on the front, and I went inside, ready for a slightly-faster-than-the-21 ride across Minneapolis. At least I’d be dry.

It was perhaps the best ride I’ve ever taken on any transit system. And I’ve taken many rides in Boston, New York, Philly, DC, Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Melbourne, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Prague, Paris, Madrid, Bilbao, &c.

We turned on to Lake Street and a passenger was trying to get the attention of a friend on the sidewalk. The driver opened the door and started yelling the same name, confusing the heck out of the person being summoned.

We turned on to Lake Street. The driver seemed to know some of the patrons, and was quite a conversationalist, in English and Spanish, to boot. No one was immune, but the humour was witty and in good taste, and everyone enjoyed it.

Traffic was terrible, and after Chicago he got on to 31st to bypass a bottleneck. “See him up there?” he said, referring to the 21 a few blocks ahead of us? When we turned back on to Lake Street at Hiawatha, we had passed him. He got on the PA: “Did you see what we just did? And no one gives me a thank you!” We all thanked him in unison.

He didn’t care for traffic trying to cut off the bus, either, rolling down his window to give them his thoughts a few times. But, we finally had made it through the gridlock and were on to the open part of the route, albeit 15 minutes late.

He would not be deterred from making up time. If a light was green and a stop unoccupied, he’d go through the light to drop a departing passenger on the far corner to avoid the light. This maneuver was successful several times. I can’t even remember why, but he had us in stitches across Marshall in Saint Paul. When I alighted at Snelling, I had actually thought of staying on to see what other gems he had for us. But it was drying out, and I was glad to be home. It was the most enjoyable ride in a long time.

Bus Buddies

admin — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 15:49:27 +0000

I’ve been riding the express from East Lake Street to downtown St Paul for a few years now. Now it is the 53B, prior to that was a 90 something. I’ve met such nice people on the bus, we have a group that we named “Bus Buddies” we do things together, get together to celebrate birthdays and go out for dinner. We met a nice man, Daryl, who has worked at 3M for 30 years. I asked him where he would like to go to celebrate and he said, the White Castle on 36th and E. Lk St. He invited his 90-year-old mom to join us. I cannot believe Dorothy is that old, she looks and acts like a “sping chicken”.

We also discovered Trivia night at Lk St Garage, but that is no longer going on. So watch for the announcement when “Merwin’s Rest” – the old Popeye’s Bar on 36th & Lake will open. This is a fun get together too.

I am so happy w/the 53 line!!!!

Oh, one of our bus buddies met a man on the bus, they are now engaged! So it can happen!!