There is a bus. Just one bus. It is the only bus that Montgomery County has to put on the 46 line. How do I know? I take that bus. When it comes.

For the majority of the population of the United States, buses are conveniences that they don't have to worry about. Buses are for school kids and those poor unfortunates that don't have a working car at the moment. There can't be people out there that depend on them as their only means of transportation, that just isn't possible.

Cut to some country outside of North America. Doesn't matter which one. I have a picture of somewhere near India, perhaps India, where the bus is nearly falling to pieces and there are children hanging from the bumpers. If the bus hit something, the bus would never feel it, the mass of humanity that is clinging to it would take up the impact. Which is better, because the bus is important enough that the loss of a few to save the bus for so many more is worth it. Does everyone in this country have a car? You are kidding, right?

Back to the United States. A bus stop in Somewhereville, Everystate, America. A few fourlorn people sit at a broken down bus stop on the edge of a half filled parking lot. And they sit. And sit. And when the bus finally does come it is crowded with the morning rush of three whole people, and is, more then likely, ten minutes late. And the few fourlorn people get on after the one depressed person gets off. And the bus drives on, after the driver has had his second cigarette break in as many stops.

There is a pervasive attitude about United States that drives the notion that we, as a county or a people, are better then those about us. We are the United States. And so we are entitled to more. And this is the case with transportation. We drive everywhere. One person to a car, filling parking lot after endless parking lot. And where there is even the remotest possibility of the need for more parking, we strip the land clear, tear down some old building and build a new parking lot. And so the car is king and public transportation is a secondary thought, for those who don't have a car, or can not drive.

In Germany you will find that not all families own cars, even those with good jobs, fine clothes and a nice house. And those families that do own cars, own small, economical cars and only one member of the family has a drivers license. Why? Because in Germany it is not a right to drive but a priviledge. Everyone must prove their ability to control an automobile, everyone must go to school to learn to drive, and everyone must pay enough insurance to take responsibility for their actions should those actions result in an accident. And so in Germany far more people ride the bus. And in Germany the bus is on time. The bus is not a place for those who are less fortunate, it is a place for all of the population, and cars are for those who are willing to spend money for the priviledge. But in the United States public transportation is considered the priviledge (why tax dollars are being spent on the upkeep of the bus and the salary of the driver).

I suppose that putting more buses on the 46 line wouldn't change the service after all, it would take far more then that to change the outlook of every citizen in America.

And an afterthought. I didn't really think about this until I lost my license to drive an automobile, not through any fault of my own mind you. And I never would have had it not happened. It take a major event to change the way of thinking that has been instilled since birth.