Every so often I have a day that reminds me of why I hate mass transit. Today was one of those days. More often than not, it is the bus end of the mass transit system that pisses me off, and today was no exception. I headed off to work early to get some grading finished up, but the Metropolitan Bus System had other plans for me since I ended up waiting for a bus for 35 minutes (as opposed to the 5 minutes I wait any other day of the week). The bus that finally picked me was loaded well beyond a level that would be deemed safe in America, so therefore we had to stop at ever single stop on the route. So the bus ride (which normally takes about 20 minutes) ended up taking close to 40 minutes. Needless to say I did not get to grade the papers I had planned on grading. But today I’m not going to dwell on the negative. Instead I’m going to explain why the subway is so awesome (especially when compared to the bus).
The first thing I like about the subway is the convience of it. It’s more frequent then buses, and due to the fact that everyone owns a car in this country, tends to get you where you need to be a lot faster. The one downside is the fact that the subway stops running at 1am on weekdays and 11 or 12pm on weekends (I’ve heard conflicting reports). This is only a problem to me since I rocked New York, where the trains never stop running (though on occassion take you all kinds of ass backwards ways due to “construction”).
The second reason I enjoy the subway is the fact that I don’t get sick on the subway. Buses make me extremely nauseous, and therefore while riding the bus I am pretty limited in what I can do: sit (or stand) and listen to music. On the subway I can study, read, play gameboy, practice 漢字, cook a three course meal, preform open heart surgery, ect.
Additionally people on a subway are a lot more likely to attempt to speak to foreigners than people riding the bus are. I’ve had countless conversations with random people on the subway (including one that ended up with me getting a girlfriend I am still seeing) while a grand totally of zero strangers have spoken to me on the bus.
But all these things pale when compared to the fact that the people watching is much more enjoyable on the subway. On the bus it’s hard to watch people, since the seats are arranged so that one can only see the back of the person in front of you’s head. The subway trains have rows of seats facing each other, making it easier to see what’s going on. Additionally the subway has a host of weirdos on it.
Riding a bus one will never encounter guys selling Q-tips, bandaids, knives, umbrellas, gloves, atomic weapons, and so on out of a suitcase.
One will never see a “blind” beggar on the bus trying to earn some coin by blasting Christian tunes on a small boombox, but this guy (and others like him) are on every single train in Seoul.
In conclusion, to those who are in charge of the subway system, please build a line out to 고양시, I really don’t feel like taking a bus anymore.
