April, 29, 2003 -- When my great-uncle in Miami heard that I was going to use public buses to get from his house to dinner, he gaped. "We don't have those kinds of buses," he said.
I knew otherwise, thanks to the Transportation Directory (www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5355), a one-man labor of love from New York transit planner Lawrence Hughes. For the past seven years, Hughes has been collecting links to every public transit system in North America -- from the well-known New York City MTA to the modest Texarkana T Line.
Clicking through from Hughes's page to the Miami-Dade transit system, I found a combination of bus and rail lines that got me to dinner before most of the people traveling by car. And I found that Miami's transit system is cheap and surprisingly complete.
You see, I can't drive. Or, more accurately, I don't drive. I have a driver's license, but being behind the wheel of a car terrifies me. But even if you do drive, the Transportation Directory opens up to you a nation of surprisingly usable public transit options. After all, renting a car might cost you $40 a day -- but in most of the nation, a ride on the bus will only set you back $1. Especially if you're on a trip visiting friends or family whom you're relying on to drive you around, knowing the local buses can be a major boon.
The site is also just an amazing expression of the vast range and diversity of places in the US and Canada. You may never use the Gloversville Loop bus in Gloversville, New York (and it may be impossible to use conveniently), but isn't it amazing to know it's there?
To use Hughes' page, you have to love maps. Delve down into the "Local and Suburban" section for the part of the US you're venturing into, and from there scroll down to the state you're heading to. Most local transit Web pages have complete system maps and schedules for all of their routes. If you get lost, call the transit system's phone number, on their home page -- they'll usually tell you how to get from Point A to Point B.
In major cities such as Atlanta, Los Angeles and Seattle, you can pretty much assume the buses run all night, or at least until midnight. Some cities as small as New Haven, Conn. have all-night bus systems. But many smaller systems only run during daylight hours -- from around 6 am to 6 pm.
Even if you know the bus you need (perhaps from reading a Frommer's Guide), the Transportation Directory can still help. In many cities, it's almost impossible to get printed bus schedules -- but transportation authorities almost always offer schedules on the Web. Print out your schedule in advance so you're never stuck waiting at a bus stop.
Here's how I've used the Transportation Directory in the past:
- Visiting my brother in Los Angeles, I wanted to get from his place to the main train station for my train to San Diego. I clicked through to the LA MTA site, which offers a customized journey-planner that told me exactly how to get there.
- Taking a long weekend in the vacation paradise of Block Island, Rhode Island, I wanted to skip the $30 taxi from the train station to the ferry dock. Phoning the local transit authority -- the number's on their website -- I found that by taking a bus halfway to the dock, I could reduce the cab fare to $12.
- Trapped in Albuquerque one day, I used the Transportation Directory to find out that the city's Route 66 bus line would take me from the place I was staying to Old Town Albuquerque, the university area and the Greyhound station for buses to Santa Fe. Not only that, but Route 66 runs frequently all day.