My first encounter with a city bus

Hey everyone!

Many have been asking me why I don't post more "blog" posts about myself, although I don't really have too much exciting stuff going on this one story came to me about the time I moved into the city to study in the university and was about to use the City bus for the first time.

I had been living there for a week already, during the weekend I was visiting my parents and there were still some items left there that didn't make it during the move. I decided to carry them all with me since I would be getting from one bus onto the other in the city and to my apartment. There was my laptop in one duffel bag and some other medium heavy items in the others, in total 4 bags. The bus ride into the city took an hour and a half but just as we entered the city it started to rain. I had checked the location of the bus stop and I wasn't too worried about the rain since I knew it was pretty close by.

I got off the bus, started carrying the bags for a good 200 meters and waiting for the city bus that was supposed to arrive in a few minutes, they usually go quite often as their route is pretty short. It arrived in time and as I jumped in I asked the driver how much it costs to get to location X, he tells me €3,50 and I take out my debit card and as I'm handing it over to him he quickly tells me I can't pay with that. Panic suddenly kicks in as I started looking for coins in my wallet. I empty them all on the counter and as he's counting them he tells me I'm short €0,15, pushes them into his other hand and hands them over to me. I just look at him and ask him if he can make an exception since I literally have 4 bags with me and its raining outside, he just shakes his head and points at the door. Having already wasted a lot of time I just go out and watch the bus take off.

"This went well" I think to myself. Wondering what my next steps should be I quickly google where the nearest ATM is and of course its way too far on the other direction to make it worth the walk. I try and brainstorm what I can do. "I have a recyclable bottle with me!" as quick as my hopes got up from getting that extra €0,15 I needed they went away just as fast realizing its Sunday and past 6 pm which meant that no store was open. "Okay, what other options do I have" I started walking towards my destination while thinking things over, I couldn't help but notice the rain was pouring down even harder now. I was getting worried about the duffel bag not holding the rain that much and my laptop taking water damage.

"I'll just walk to the next bus stop, the shorter distance from there has to drop the price low enough for me to buy that ticket!" I thought, I even decided to skip the next one and go to the one after that just to be sure. The bus stops were quite frequent, maybe half a kilometer in between and I knew the buses came around at least once every 30 minutes. My equipment was starting to feel pretty heavy as I finally made it to the second bus stop. I sat down exhausted and took out my phone to check when exactly the next bus was supposed to arrive, then I looked into some more info and realized that the cost of the ticket didn't differentiate from the distance, it was a ticket that was valid for a couple hours instead. I had walked for a kilometer with over 30 kilograms of weight all for nothing and the rain didn't look like it was wearing off any time soon.

Feeling quite tired and hopeless I decided my last attempt to be a bit different. I had recently visited Helsinki and used the Subway there which had this system of buying a ticket and then getting on but my friend told me that the person in charge of checking up on the tickets usually never got on so many often never bought one and played with the odds of not getting caught. Alright, I'll just try that, I thought.

The bus arrived, in the meantime a couple other people had arrived at the bus stop and a lady with a stroller as well. The two guys went directly for the door as I was picking up my bags and feeling really nervous as if I'm about to break into a bank. I go for the door in the back of the bus and helped out the lady to lift the stroller up and then went for my bags again before I got on. I take a seat all nervously and wait for the bus to drive off.

It doesn't.

I look up and notice the driver looking into his mirror straight to my direction, I couldn't really make out if it was at me but then I noticed him waving his arm so I leave the bags at my seat and go towards him. As I get closer I notice its the same driver that denied me last time... Already feeling really embarrassed I ask him if it is cheaper now that I'm closer to the location even though I knew the answer. He returns a quick "nope" and I'm like "is there really nothing you can do? It's raining heavily, I have a laptop in my bags and still got over 4 kilometers to walk, I'm 15 cents short, man!", he just looks at me and says "not my problem, sorry".

I go back for my bags and get off the bus and start walking, the feeling of embarrassment, frustration and worry about my laptop getting ruined over me makes the road feel a lot longer than just four kilometers. The heavy bags didn't help much either. I decided to take off my coat and cover the bag with the laptop with it just in case it would help versus the rain even a little bit.

As I finally arrive at my apartment I just throw the bags in a corner, take out the laptop which seemed to have gotten some water on it and put it on the table close to the window which I leave open hoping it will dry the rest of possible water inside of it. I was completely soaked and jumped in the shower real quick, as soon as I get out I notice the rain had stopped. What a great day this has been. Thankfully my laptop didn't seem to have suffered any damage, I couldn't wait too long before I tested if it went on hoping it was dry enough.

The next day I went to the ATM in the morning close to my apartment and lifted a €50 just to make sure I'd have money for the rest of the week for the damn bus and as I get on it it seemed as if my luck had finally turned. It was the same driver from yesterday and as I hand him the €50 he looks at it and says "its too early in the morning for me to have change for that" I look at him straight in the eyes and tell him "that's not my problem". He returns the 50 to me with a frown and closes the door behind me so I just make my way to a seat and start believing in karma.

I learned that week that you can order a card for the city bus and use it as many times as you like for just €50 a month, didn't get a similar problem in the future anymore but I also learned that the inconvenience of not being able to pay with your card or have enough of change on you can be really brutal in some situations.