Growing up in a small town in Michigan, a state so dependent on cars that public transportation is extremely infrequent, I didn't ride a bus until I was 20 years old. I was living in Kalamazoo Michigan at the time attending college. Students at the local university were allowed to ride the bus for free. Due to a slew of parking tickets and a job as at the college radio station I was unceremoniously thrown into the life of a public transportation rider. Kalamazoo's bus system was extremely unreliable yet uncomplicated.
My time riding the bus in Kalamazoo was my first introduction to the odd culture that exists while riding the bus. My first thoughts about this culture were that it was unique to Kalamazoo, I would later learn that it was not, this culture is not native to a single location but instead the space contained inside of public transportation.
This culture is a combination of of curiosity due to boredom and attempts to go unnoticed. Travel is such a private activity that when it is shared with strangers we all seem to become uncomfortable.
This blog will document my experience riding the bus and the observations about its culture.
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