* Stole My Bike

Yesterday afternoon while traversing the ever exhausting Vermont corridor a man in headphones and overalls was the unfortunate victim of bike theft by an all too loud and obnoxious, possibly insane, bus driver. Of course if I were a driver on Vermont I’d be half crazy as well.

I should have known the trip was going to be a disaster since after boarding it took upwards of fifteen minutes and a good amount of unnecessary yelling and scolding by the driver to load a disabled person. The driver had already closed the door and I guess by doing so decided he was no longer letting people board even though he was of course still at the bus stop; however, the people standing at the door way thought otherwise.

I had already loaded my bike and was sitting at the far back of the articulated 754 when another person put his bike up on the rack. The arbitrary yelling up front was still going on so I didn’t pay much attention. Meanwhile the group waiting to board grew larger, probably 15 people at this point, a number our bus could still accommodate quite easily for we were still at Sunset, the beginning of the line.

Finally the disabled man was locked in and we were ready to go but not before, I assumed, the driver opened the door and let everyone waiting jump on. To my surprise, he instead opened the door yelled something unintelligible and sped off, leaving the group and the man who, with headphones on, watched us off in confused amazement.

Equally confused I sat wondering what that poor guy was now going to have to go through to get his bike back. I would’ve jumped on the next bus and tried to follow this bus to its termination but even that might have been a pointless move. I wanted to get to the front and tell the driver that he had, through his impatience and attitude, inadvertently taken a man’s bike but anyone whose been on the 754 at 5 knows there are a million people on there and maneuvering to the front of the bus is an impossibility. In fact, to get my bike I jumped out the back exit and ran to the front to retrieve it and in doing so got mysteriously scolded for whatever reason. I ignored him because I didn’t care but the man trying to get on, who was also not allowed to board, took it personally and started yelling back.

I turned and cut through the gas station on the corner, frustrated and annoyed, when I saw two drivers, both fighting for a space at the gas pump, get out and curse at top volume to one another. I calmed knowing at least I wasn’t paying $3.89 a gallon to get yelled at.

In the end I can blame only myself for I should of course just taken the subway. As for the others, those going much further south than just Wilshire, I can only hope the Crenshaw corridor gets built soon. And for the guy who lost his bike, good luck.