Races. Ugh! I am too slow for events like this. It is like reading the Southern Sierran about all the hikes people do. I find going from bus stops to shop etc. plenty of hiking for now.

I wondered about the choice to stay on the bus until we could transfer to the Red line, rather than switch from bus to train sooner at Western. It didn’t occur to me that we might lose time waiting for the next Purple line train, especially if the trains run less often on Sunday.

I had an iPhone with me and gave the Trip Planner at http://www.metro.net a try. I learned a little trick, that it’s worth increasing the maximum walking distance to allow more trip choices. The default is 1/3 mile and with that setting it recommended that we take the 20 bus, not the 720 express bus that required walking only another block. With the setting at 1/2 mile or more, the Trip Planner did recommend the express bus, which saved a lot of time.

If only one of us had thought to check the Heritage Square website from our smart phones, we would have found the correct walking directions from the Heritage Square Gold line metro station to the Heritage Square Museum! (http://www.heritagesquare.org/directions.htm)

When TransitPeople holds its next race, we’ll be even better prepared. And next time I think we should choose team names (good for team spirit) and wear TransitPeople vests as we travel across the city, to help spread the word about their great program.

When you speak of the BRU that “they inspire people” you have to realize the agitation model of advocacy is more colorful for media attention and easier for most people to grasp because it is mostly built on soundbite slogans and just requires participants to learn their lines and hit the marks–the downside is everything is reduced to simplistic rail v. bus etc., over time the novelty wears out with diminished media attention plus without follow-up whatever the protests generate in attention and potential political clout is dissipated. The turnout by the BRU and allies at the last Metro fare hearing was impressive but it was in the service of DOA demands (50 cent fare/twenty dollar monthly pass); Eric Mann just wanted publicity when he could have leveraged their advocacy for some real gains to benefit riders IF HE HAD BEEN WILLING TO COMPROMISE. That the riders needs were not well served that day by the BRU’s tactics is partly why I have a very low opinion of the organization.