Taylor’s Blog

December 16th C-Tran (Carys public transit system) began using fixed routes.. I had always seen the
little purple buses around town, but they did me little to no good since they were a point to point system where you could call up and they would drive
you to where you wanted to go for $2.. You also had to call ahead of time, and it sounded like a complete pain in the ass..

Now with these new fixed routes there is a map and a schedule which made it seem more like a real public transit system.. I was pretty excited about it
especially since I was thinking I could use it to get to work instead of driving every freakin’ day.. I figured I would give it a whirl and go see a movie
yesterday at cross roads and use C-Tran to get there and back.. The plan only worked out 1/2 way.. Sadly C-Tran is a system only designed to strand you
across town..

We got picked up prompted on time near my house just as the schedule said, listened to the reggae show on shaw with the driver, and got dropped off right
at the movies.. What was even cooler then was that C-Tran is completely free until February.. I picked up a printed schedule as we left the bus just to
make sure I had one with me so we wouldn’t miss the bus to get back..

We saw the producers (which was awesome).. Will Ferrel is awesome (Be sure to buy Mein Kampf.. It’s available in paperback.. Borders.. Amazon dot com..)..
Walked across the interstate on the bridge on Walnut street which is not pedestrian friendly I might add.. We did some looking at Borders, grabed some
coffee and got out to the stop at 6:30 on Buck Jones..

There should have been 2 more busses coming.. Sadly we stood there.. Every Hummer that drove by looked like little purple C-Tran buses.. We ended up
standing there until 7:45.. I pulled out the trusty schedule and triple checked.. There should have been 2 more buses.. Sadly we got fucked.. It was quite
cold.. Especially since I had spilled a good ammount of coffee on myself and it was now just cold and wet.. I also didn’t bring a jacket since I didn’t
expect to be outside for over an hour!!!

We walked over to Thai Villa and got some take out and walked most of the way home.. We stopped at some office building and ate most of our curry, and
started our trek again.. We made it past the stupid mall, and right when we realized we were only halfway home we saw a cab.. On New Years Eve in Cary!
What luck.. I just looked at a map and it looks like that was about 2 miles we had walked so far since being stranded..

We called a good number of people, but sadly no one was coming to help.. We did have one offer from someone in Raleigh, but thats just too damn far to
drive.. We also tried to call a cab, but Cardinal Cab put me on hold for at least 10 minutes.. We figured if the hold time is that long the cab wait will
be even longer.. Cabs aren’t usually seen in the streets of Cary.. Those are allocated for Hummers and other large SUVs..

So yeah.. I just sent an email to Ray Bolyston about my first experience with C-Tran.. Nice eh? Real convenient.. What had turned out to be a free day
(C-Tran was free to get there, and the movie was paid for with free passes I got somewhere that expired that day), turned out costing 10 bucks for a ride
with a very inept cab driver who didn’t understand left from right..

So there is my first experience with public transit in Cary.. Something so simple.. I don’t understand how it is so damn hard to drive in a circle and
look for people standing next to a sign.. Thanks C-Tran.. Here is your first raving review..

For those interested in using C-Tran while your Hummer is in the shop here is a link for more information..

http://www.townofcary.org/ctran/ctranoverview.htm