"Yeah, There's the storm--it's finally here. It's about an hour late," the lady who boarded two stops after me said to the follow public transportation riders (myself included...) who rode the 470 bus bound for Ogden at 2:15pm on Thanksgiving Eve, 2015.
I take public transportation to work every day. I do not, however, take the 470. It's not that the 470 is a bad bus. It's just I take the 473, which is an express bus. The express bus drives on the interstate and has internet service. The other bus drives through town and stops at almost every stop. There's other reasons why I take the 473, but those are the most important.
One other major difference between the two is on the express bus, usually no one talks. It's a silent ride. The same cannot be said for a trip on the 470. Maybe during rush hour, no one talks on the 470 either, but during the day...oh boy!
"Whatever you do," said another passenger. "Don't tell Donald Trump that they're immigrants. I think Donald Trump is an immigrant. What we ought to do is sent Donald Trump back to Ireland!"
"Hey--they tore down the K-Mart," another passenger say, though, to be honest, it could be the same one who believes Donald Trump should be forcibly removed and deposited to a land to where he is not a legal citizen, thus making the previous "immigrant" analogy meritless. "Yeah, they're going to move the Smiths (a local grocery store...) there. They'll have to close the one on the other side of the street, but where the K-Mart was is a better location."
From national politics and the closing and opting of stores, the conversation turned to a local issue. "Did you hear they denied Starbucks a liquor license?" Another passenger: "Yeah, they'll never get that passed. I mean, they don't make food at Starbucks--only sell pre-made food." As I considered that reasoning, another chimed in, "Yeah, can you imagine getting booze at a drive thru? The cops could just sit there and wait to bust you!" The term open carry was introduced and met with spirited laughter.
Three was a "Hey, there's NO eating on the bus!" warning, then a "the bus had to be stopped and the driver got out of his seat to address the food-eating violator" incident. It was another interesting exchange.
As we traveled farther away from downtown Salt Lake, the nuggets of wisdom came less frequently until as I drew close to home, only the sounds of the engine and tires on pavement could be heard. I pulled the cord and stepped from the bus that brought me home, leaving my fellow travelers to their own thoughts. Maybe once I left they began new and exciting conversations about such exotic topics as space/time continuums or the Kardashians.
Then again, maybe not.
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