Sarita's Mass Observation # 2

Mass Observation # 2

09/10/09

Bus Commute: 7:45 am

As I was approaching the bus stop, most students walking ahead of me looked back over their shoulders repeatedly to check if the West Campus(W.C) bus was in the vicinity. Each time they glanced over with a glimmer of hope, their eyes seemed to evoke an increasing eagerness. A brown curly-haired girl rest her belongings on the bench and stood in front of it while shifting her weight from one leg to the other. I stood by her, while getting slightly wet in the rain; because of having forgotten an umbrella and there being no roof at the bus stop to secure cover under.

Five minutes had past and there was still no sign of the bus. After seven minutes past I decided to walk the mile to the art building. But, as soon as I started to step away from the bus stop, the brown-haired girl mentioned that she had only been there for two or three minutes before I had arrived. She said this was her first time riding the West Campus bus. She usually drove her car to campus from a far location (not mentioned) and parked in East Campus from where she took the E.R. bus to class. She expressed it was inconvenient to return to her parked car in between classes, because the only option would be to take a long route with the E.R. bus. "It's so frustrating!" She exclaimed. At that moment she was attempting to figure out if the West Campus bus route would provide a more suitable option. 

Ten minutes past now. the brown-haired girl and I turned our heads towards the road, hoping for the arrival of the W.C bus. A girl with a tightly wrapped scarf steadily cycled past on the road in front of me. Several other students seemed cautioned by the rain and peddled along the long stretch of the road at a slow and steady pace. I grew eager as I didn't want to be late for class for the second time this week. I skimmed over the bus schedule posted on a pole to check the frequency of the bus during the morning commute. 

It listed: Time: 7am-9am      Frequency: 7 minutes

After thirteen minutes had past, I noticed the bus slowly creeping up the hill at the end of the road. The brown-haired girl exhaled a loud sigh of relief. As the doors swung open and I attempted to get on the bus, the platform seemed unusually higher off the ground. The platform required me to step onto it while forcibly thrusting my full body weight forward. 

The bus was densely packed near the doors and the front part of the bus. I quickly attempted to get a grasp of the black looped grips hanging off of the poles on the ceiling of the bus. As the bus driver kicked his leg off the break and stepped onto the gas peddle, everyone standing jerked backwards and quickly tried to regain a stable stance. A boy in a black hoodie and jeans next me struggled to gain a stance throughout the ride. While he kept a firm hold on the looped grips, his entire body rocked back and forth in place. His earlier sleepless and dull facial expressions seemed to have disappeared as he progressed to test the grip of the pole above the loops. He seemed to have failed again as he stumbled a few steps forward into the person in front of him and then back a couple. When the bus arrived at his stop, he cautiously took his steps towards the front door to exit.