April 09, 2008 News & Views » Cover

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Diary of a CATS rider 

The true tale of a commuter who ditched her car to ride public transportation for five days — and lived to talk about it

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click to flip through (3) JASIATIC - THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM: A CATS bus prior to being boarded by passengers
  • Jasiatic

  • THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM: A CATS bus prior to being boarded by passengers

   

Page 2 of 6

I walk around a bit, trying to figure out how to get upstairs to the rail station. I realize at this moment that even though I rode the train during the CIAA and ACC tournaments, I've never gotten on it at the transit center. And yes, I'm lost. There's that code again. I don't see any signs anywhere pointing people in the right direction. I call Michelle again.

"How do I get on the train?" I ask.

She's laughing, and at this point, I don't like her too much. "You go upstairs. There's a door beside the bank that leads to the elevator or the stairs."

"Thanks," I reply.

"You'll be driving tomorrow."

"Shut up!" I certainly wasn't going to tell her that I drove today.

I make it up to the light rail station and notice a big difference in riding the train today as opposed to when a basketball tournament is in town: I got a seat! Hot damn!

The CATS employees and the passengers aren't as nice as they were during the tournaments either. Everyone is in his or her own little world. It's an interesting juxtaposition. On the bus, people talk to each other so much it's damn near painful to listen to some of their conversations. But on the train, people listen to music and read. The people are different, too. For the most part, there are a lot of blacks and Latinos riding the bus. The train, however, has a few more white people on it. It's appears to be cool for bankers and Uptown workers to take the train while clutching their briefcases and listening to iPods.

Another thing I notice today is that someone is checking tickets. Wow! I've never seen this happen. At the Carson Station, a tall CATS employee hops on the train and asks random passengers to see their passes. No one gets kicked off. I guess everyone is paying to ride these days.

I ride the train all the way to I-485, and parts of this trip remind me of a rollercoaster at Carowinds. It's kind of fun and fast. Man, it would be great if the light rail went all over the city. But, I digress.

On the way back to Uptown, the train is nearly empty. Hell, it's the middle of the day and most of the light rail's core riders are in their offices waiting for 5 p.m. I'm able to stretch out on two seats and watch the scenery fly by and read my Ann Rule book, Bitter Harvest.

Or so I thought.

A dude steps on the train and sits near me. With all these empty seats around, this guy wants to sit beside me. That would've been fine if he would've allowed me to just read my book.

"What are you reading?" he asks.

"Bitter Harvest," I say, trying not to be rude.

"Oh, OK." When he pulls out his headphones, I was thinking the conversation would end there. It didn't.

"Are you married?" he asks.

"No."

"Do you have any children?"

"No."

He tells me that his name is Robert, and he's a minister who moved to Charlotte from New York. Great, I think. Robert is single and thinks I'm cute. He wants to exchange numbers. I'm thinking, "Shit. All I wanted to do was read a book."

I take Robert's number and say I'll call, but I know I'm not going to call. Since I don't want to continue talking to him, I get off at the Bland Street station and walk to a bus stop on South Boulevard. The No. 10 bus is coming in three minutes (I hope). I stand there waiting, then I realize that I haven't had lunch yet. Good thing the bus stop is across from Quizno's.

So far, I'm having fun on my journey. And it doesn't hurt that the weather is nice. This might work out after all.

After lunch, I head back to the stop. I have about five minutes to wait for the bus. The No. 10 arrives, and it's quite full. I take an empty seat across from three people who are lamenting the fact that a bus route in their neighborhood has been discontinued because of the light rail.

An older lady sitting in the middle with dark shades on says, "Why do I have to ride three things to get down one street? It makes no sense."

"It takes forever to get to the mall now," her traveling companion says.

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