SeeingGreen ™

Portland has an admirable transit system for a city its size. My neighborhood alone is serviced by light rail and 3 bus lines that will either take you downtown or across town. That’s not to say that you’ll get to your destination faster than if you were to drive, but you will get there, and most days you will get there at the time Tri-Met (the region’s transportation authority) said you would. In addition to the green benefits of using mass transit (less pollution, a more efficient use of those dead dinosaurs, and a more equitable way to move people around the planet) there are other benefits to taking mass transit over driving.
1. Getting to know your neighbors. There are people I’ve been seeing at my bus/MAX stop for years. Although we’ve never spoken, I often speculate about where my mass-transit comrade is going, whom they love and what they carry in their bag. I imagine if we ever snapped out of our not-quite-caffeinated enough morning (and afternoon) comas, we’d make fast friends. After all, we spend a good forty minutes a day (20 minutes each way) staring at one another and breathing the same sometimes not-so-fresh bus scented air.
2. Getting to look out the window. When you drive everywhere, you miss things. Sure, you look out the window when you are operating a vehicle, but I hope that you are paying more attention to the road, other cars, pedestrians, and bicyclists than checking out buildings, businesses, and the scenery. In the past year alone I’ve witnessed a grocery store being built, an extensive restaurant remodel, the demolition of several homes, a porn shop locate next to a school, a very intense break up, and many, many beautiful sunsets (if I only carried my camera with me more often).
3. Getting to do other things. Although I’ve seen people reading, writing, and doing crosswords while driving (more times than you would imagine), taking mass transit frees you up to do all those activities without putting lives at risk. I often come up with some of my best (self-proclaimed) ideas while riding the bus. Now if I just had time to make some of those things happen…
4. Getting more exercise without going to the gym. When you take the bus/train, you invariably need to walk more, stand more, and dance more than when you drive everywhere. You just do.
5. Getting to see people of all backgrounds, races, economic proclivities. I’ve learned a lot about my fellow human, just from listening, watching, and sometimes smelling the people around me. I try to remain open to experiencing people in a visceral way when I am on mass transit. I am always surprised by the generosity, humor and sometimes downright prophetic nature of my fellow riders. As I observe and admittedly, sometimes make judgments about other riders, I try to remember the words from a sticker I once saw tacked to the bathroom wall in some bar - “We all look funny to someone.”

I could keep going, but hopefully by now I’ve convinced you yet that taking mass transit is good for your heart, soul, and spirit. Even if you cannot always get to work or play by bus, try it when you can… you’ll be Seeing Green in no time.

Plan your trip, find a bus stop, and read more Poetry-In-Motion (another benefit to riding) at www.trimet.org or call 503-238-RIDE (7433).