#nycbusfail

     I will keep this short and sweet. I have always proclaimed myself a "bus girl" versus the much-more-common "subway gal (or guy)".  Throughout the nearly ten years I have resided in Manhattan, there has only been roughly one and a half years during which I consistently rode the subway (consistently, read daily). This may at first seem normal but if you live here in the city o' Apple, you know that is far from ordinary. So how did/do I get to work all those other years? In time past, I would proudly proclaim my inclination for the bus when asked this very question. "It's so much cleaner!" I would tout. "And it gets me there just as quickly as the subway." I used these (what I have now embraced as false) lines year after year, all the while always arriving at my destination of choice ~5-10 minutes post start time. I would rationalize the few minute delay with the "infinitely more enjoyable" quality of my commute. I lived like this for much longer than I care to admit.
     Okay, now that that's on the table, I'd like to hereby proclaim, on this day, the eleventh of March two thousand thirteen, that I am officially retiring my "bus girl" title. It is gone. Never to be used again. Why the sudden departure from where I was? (No pun intended). Well, today was the not-so-sweet icing on the cake of my transportation karma. It took me forty minutes,  yes that's right folks, FORTY long minutes, to be transported from 23rd and 1st to 23rd and 5th. Yes, Manhattan dwellers, your avenue math is indeed correct, that is a mere five avenues. That equates to more than ten minutes per avenue. I know, I know, I should have walked, you are undoubtedly thinking. And you're right, I should have. But, I was cold, tired and I did not. Happily, I had left my apartment this morning with a plethora of time padding so, despite the nightmarishly slow commute, my arrival was not tardy. But enough on that...there is nothing positive to say about a 40 minute 5 block commute. But alas. This unnecessarily frustrating event will no longer be a part of my daily routine. Adieu, M101...it was grand while it lasted but I'm now off to the murky underworld of the 4-5-6. See ya on the flip.