Why I’m grateful for public transportation in Fort Collins
The wait for a bus amid the gathering of random people may not sound appealing, but experiencing public transportation first-hand in Fort Collins increased my gratitude. I became more aware of those who share my community, felt more connected to my location, and was able to humble my impatience learned in this instant-gratification society.
As a new student at Colorado State University, I found myself in a situation I’d never experienced. On a campus located in a platinum biking city, with a well-defined and encouraged public transportation system and a traffic scene to give Los Angeles a run for its money, I found myself without a car. To pay for a parking permit on campus was pricey, and the chance of a guaranteed spot was risky at best.
I did what any logical student would do and moved to a new city without my car. I armed myself with a cheap, hybrid bike and zero experience of the bus system.
I struggled to say the least. There were multiple missed events, missed buses, long, painful bike rides and some occasional, tearful breakdowns. I wondered if this initial experience of public transportation in Fort Collins was worth any of my time, or if I should give in and pay the absurd annual charge of $630 for a parking permit and my personal comfort.
The more I thought about that question and rode the Transfort buses to Longmont, to Boulder, and up and down North College Avenue, the more I realized what it was teaching me.
First off, riding the buses made me aware of how affluent I was. I couldn’t believe I was 18 years old and didn’t know how to ride a bus. I realized until this point in my life, I had always had access to a car, or my parents, and I’d always lived close enough to where I needed to go to school each day.
Life in Fort Collins was different, and I quickly realized some common knowledge to others was a simple mystery to me, such as pulling the string on the bus to get off at your stop. A non-city slicker (like myself) might make the mistake of never pulling the string and riding the bus around in circles until realizing something was not right (like I did…).
However, utilizing the buses enabled me to map the city in my head. It also put me in a place to learn from engagements with people I didn’t engage with often: homeless people, elderly people, and often mentally or physically disabled people. This encouraged me to operate in a more open-minded, accepting way. I shared this space with these people on multiple occasions, shared smiles and “Good mornings” with them, and regardless of how different we may have seemed, I learned that we had a common connection: needing to use public transportation together.
The bus system also taught me I had a small problem with waiting. Patience is a fast-declining treasure, and public transportation will teach it to you like no other. I realized the extent of the problem I’d developed when I would arrive to the bus station just seconds short of catching the last bus. I’d sulk at the station, in repugnance that I’d have to endure the grueling 15 minute wait before the next one would arrive.
The swell of impatience I’d experience was not so shocking considering how my life in American society was finely accustomed to instant gratification, but it was incredibility unnecessary. At first I didn’t enjoy where I was when I had to wait, and I disconnected from those around me in hopes to pass the time.
But the more it happened, the more I learned I was growing to like passing time at a slower rate. I felt calmer and more appreciative of what was around me. Waiting on the buses, or waiting for a person in a wheelchair to put down the ramp and board the bus, or waiting at each separate stop along the route allowed me time to be present where I was.
The most impressive thing public transportation in Fort Collins did for me was bring me — an outsider — more in touch with the Fort Collins community. Regardless of the ethnicity, gender, age, economic or social class of the people riding the bus with me, we all needed the same thing. I would look around and realize how simple it felt that were gathering in this place for the same reason.
It was special that we all had access to what we needed, and that Fort Collins did it so well. The buses were clean, the drivers courteous and friendly, and mostly the people were grateful, always thanking the drivers as they left. That is when I turned to gratitude for public transportation in Fort Collins and fully realized the importance of its presence and lessons in its use. Here, you can find other examples of the benefits of public transportation.
When faced with uncomfortable situations, we tend to want to shut them out, turn around and face away. To experience an anomaly in our daily lives and embrace it is giving into growth and acceptance of other peoples’ styles of life. We all come from different walks, complexities, values, families, truths, and abilities. When forced to interact with what is not familiar to us, and to experience it with consistency, we come to see that those differences will melt. They will become of less importance and our true human nature, which is to connect, will come to the surface. To accept that other people live different realities than our own is to realize we are at the same level, a human level, filled with similarities as well as the contrast of differences.
All people can find a use or a lesson in public transportation. It is not only a logical tool for learning how to navigate the city, but a conceptual tool for teaching each of us to see things in a bit of a different light. I find it important that those who don’t know how to use the buses in Fort Collins can easily find out and learn, and in doing so, learn more about the variations and treasures of life along the way.
Here, you can find the Transfort website that lists and maps all routes, times and locations of the bus stops in the city. And if you’re looking for other ways to travel in Fort Collins, you can check out their transportation site here.
Happy bus riding!
