I kind of knew this beforehand, but I, for one reason or another, never fully took advantage of Madison's bus system. Thinking back on it, it was totally because it was easy enough to walk downtown from where I lived that I couldn't fully justify that $2 cost for such a short ride. In Austin, however, where I'm staying way up on the northwest side of the city, the cost of such a ride is much easier to stomach. Not only is the ride long enough to justify the cost, but the cost of catching a bus to downtown is lower. In Madison any single ride was $2. In Austin, you can take the express bus which runs down the freeway from the far corners of town into the campus or downtown area for only a dollar, and all non-express intra-city buses are fifty cents! Commuter rail is slated to start running soon which is another non-driving option, and bike and walking trails appear to be plentiful. Fuck you, gasoline, I'm not paying for you as often as you thought I would.
For some reason the availability of this bus has eluded me for the first two days of the week but this morning I wizened up and checked out the schedule. I can walk approx 2 mins to the stop for the 982 express, which will take me to a wide range of stops along Guadalupe from the campus all the way to the river. I wanted to get the comprehensive bus system guide book from the Metro office on Congress between 3rd and 4th, so I got off around 5th and Guadalupe because I jumped the gun on the "Stop Request" button and the driver stopped before my intended exit at 4th and Guadalupe. Instead of heading straight to the Metro office, though, I headed south east to the Congress street bridge and went across the river to meander around the SoCo area (not THAT SoCo, though it would have been cool if the Flaming Lips were playing like they did at the SoCo fest in Madison last year), but I changed my mind and went west toward Zilker park on Barton Springs. Once I hit Lamar I went back across the river and walked along Cesar Chavez back to the Congress area where I hopped up to 6th and walked down to Red River and back to Congress then up to the State Capitol area and across to Guadalupe then up to Campus where I caught the bus back. The art museum I saw on the way looks cool, so maybe I'll head back tomorrow to check it out!
Total distance walked (not including to bus stop from apartment and back to apartment from bus stop: 5.5719 miles (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2169061)
Distance to bus stop: 0.1231 miles
Distance to apt from bus stop: 0.5279 miles
Total walking distance: 6.2229 miles. Not bad, eh?
Some pictures from the walk, and where I'll continue to post more Austin pictures: http://flickr.com/photos/keepmusicevil/
2 comments:
You mean you never had the pleasure of taking the Epic bus to work while you were in Madison? Just kidding, that was always a long and boring journey. Austin's bus prices are much more affordable than Madison's.
i hope you were wearing some better kicks than the converse
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