Until recently, I was the occasional user of public transportation. For me, nothing beats having keys to my own car that I can drive anytime, anywhere. My car is a safe haven of my music and temperature settings that I can adjust and maintain to my liking, lock it up and come back to it when I need it. Public transportation was, as the Dowager Countess would say, "So middle-class." The only use I had for it was occasional visits to San Fransisco, touring around Manhattan, or making my way to the airport in Madrid. I've never been a metrophile because it wasn't really a "fit" for my lifestyle, and honestly, I liked it that way. After all, isn't it scary to give up your temperature settings, your comfort zone and your lock and key? Well, the following lessons will hopefully encourage you to think outside the locks.
Lesson 1: Travel Light
Do I really need to carry a book if I am not going to read it? Can I leave an extra deodorant in my office drawer since I usually keep one in my glove compartment? What about that water bottle I usually lug around? Are these things I wish I used but don't, and just carry around to make myself feel responsible and "in control?" Or are these things my "safeties" that I use occasionally but not all the time? Think about the products, thoughts and ideas you take with you everywhere. Set them down for a day and see what happens. I think when you put some things down you might be able to pick more relevant things up...
Lesson 2: Plan Ahead
In keeping with Lesson 1, it's come to the surface lately that my daily decisions, however trivial they may seem, can have a prominent effect on other events of the day. For example: when boarding the CalTrain at the Palo Alto Station toward South San Jose, I discovered it was wise for me to board in almost the last car so that when we arrive at my station (Tamien) I am in easy access to the narrow staircase to the parking lot that gets backed up fast from the rush of passengers. What I also noticed is that by making a small adjustment through forethought, I am able to avoid a certain amount of frustration later. This also begs the question of how much I want to dedicate daily decisions to reaping somewhat minimal savings of frustration.
Lesson 3: Every Minute Counts
Duh, right? No, they do. At 7:25 I leave my house to catch the 7:39 VTA, which gets to Tamien at 7:50, where I have 6 minutes to get to the baby bullet platform, which projects me to Palo Alto at 8:27... you get the rest. This mind frame is a blessing, because when I am at home in bed I say to myself, "I get 7 more minutes of cuddling with my puppies." Or, at other times, I say, "It's only a few minutes that I have to deal with this, I can do it." By focusing on the fact that every minute is precious -yet fleeting- I feel like I am maximizing the minutes I am at a place of enjoyment, yet not worrying about the minutes that I am not.
Lesson 4: Look Up From Your Phone Sometimes
The social experiments of, "look at how many people at parties are on their phone" are not very meaningful to me. I know people in these times are engaged through technology. There are complaints of people no longer being social in person, but I don't really see too much alarm here. People still build communities and networks, it's just in their safe "locked climate" sort of way (see the intro to this post). The life lesson that is meaningful here is the connection to the world outside your peripheral. Roll your window down when you are driving. Stop at a random exit on a trip to walk around and breathe in the air. Take a window seat on the CalTrain and put your phone away. Watch the neighborhoods roll by, look at individuals that are headed to work or home, put yourself in their shoes and think about what might not be going their way today. That is what's missing in society today. Empathy and role-swapping, the rest will follow.
Lesson 5: Sometimes You Have to Go Backward to Go Forward
It's cliche but so true. I was a snot factory one day and left work early. Since I live in South San Jose, my options are somewhat limited for off-peak hours. I ended up taking the CalTrain south to Diridon and then took VTA north to Convention Center, then south down the Santa Teresa line. Sometimes you need to turn your back to where you want to go, stop and wait a bit for circumstances to align, before the opportunity for you to get to your next stop will come. In fact, many times I've been able to get to where I'm going more efficiently, with less waste, when I go back a little bit or stop my journey part way before resuming. Timing is everything.
References: VTA Schedule CalTrain Schedule Stanford Marguerite Shuttle
Thanks, this is helpful! An aside, I just saw the film, Chasing Ice (http://www.chasingice.com/) about global warming. I guess another way to look at it is when you take public transit maybe you're helping with the global temperature settings. But yes, it can be a frustrating experience, hopefully that will change as more people use it.
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