|
Volume CXXXII, Number 23 |
 |
Public transportation?
ANDREAS SEIFERT
FACULTY CONTRIBUTOR
 |
| Where are the bus stops? (Karsten Moran, Bowdoin Orient) |
I have to admit that I am spoiled. However, before I came to the U.S. I did not know that. Back in Germany, even in my hometown of Neuwied, which is not much bigger than Brunswick, we actually have means of public transportation. Hourly buses connect Neuwied with every little surrounding village, and trains come and go from the bigger cities almost every fifteen minutes. I took all of that for granted and even complained that there were no buses running between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m.
Last September, however, when I arrived in Brunswick, I soon realized what little reason I actually had to complain about public transportation in Germany. In the first couple of weeks in Maine with neither car nor bike, I felt completely cut off from the rest of civilization. If I needed to go shopping, to Wal-Mart that is, it took me about three and a half hours roundtrip. While some of my friends with cars made it to Boston and back in that time.
This walk was not really a pleasure, and I still remember well the faces of all the people that flew by in their big cars, covering the distance between Brunswick and Cook's Corner in about five minutes. I still remember children pressing their little hands and their tiny noses against the windows, peering out, staring at me, their lips forming the question: "Mummy, what is this strange man doing out there?" I remember the mothers laughing hard, their unheard replies: "This, my boy, we call walking. We do not do that anymore, unless we really have to. I guess this strange man is not from our country."
Fortunately, it was a nice day back then in September with neither rain nor chill. So, I did not really mind the hike. Except that there is actually no sidewalk on the Bath Road between Brunswick and Cook's Corner, not to mention traffic lights for pedestrians. So, after a somewhat dangerous and tedious march of
about 45 minutes, I ended up at the intersection of Route 24 and Bath Road.
Waiting there for another fifteen minutes watching the constant traffic of what I suppose was Brunswick's rush hour, I finally lost my patience. In a fit of suicidal frustration, I jumped on the street and tried to just run across the six lanes of Route 24. This maneuver won me a mixture of pitiful smiles and mad honkings from the drivers and almost caused serious injury to myself. But after all, I safely made it to Wal-Mart and immediately purchased the first item on my shopping list-a bike.
This made things a lot easier for me and by and by I found out that even in Brunswick there are means of public transportation. They are simply not the ones I was used to from Germany. Instead of buses and trains, I came to find out that foreigners in Maine should rely on friends (because almost everybody has a car) or try hitchhiking (because people in Maine kindly share their cars). Besides this, I learned about some special contracts Bowdoin arranged for its students, e.g. with the taxi service.
Now I know that the public transportation here is almost more convenient
than German buses and trains, because you are not dependent on schedules.
Too bad that I have to go back in a couple of weeks-I hope I do not miss
my plane.
|
FastCounter by bCentral |