By Sally Pyne
Did you know you can ride the Connect Transit buses for FREE—yes, you heard me, completely FREE through the end of August? Connect Transit is the name of the system of buses that operates in Bloomington-Normal. When I was a kid my best friend, Mary Beasley and I rode ALL over town. Honestly, it didn’t occur to us to ask our parents for a ride to the mall when we knew we could get there via the bus. What happened? We grew up, got our driver’s license and bought cars. Do you ride the bus? If that’s your only mode of transportation you are a much better planner than I am. If you have always ridden the bus there’s a good chance this transition to the new bus routes maybe hasn’t been that easy. But to a returning rider, like myself I found it fairly easy to navigate.
The new Connect Transit application, or “app”, that you can download on your smartphone, if you have one, is amazing. If you are familiar with other transportation apps, it looks something like those, in that you can see where your bus is at & how close it is to your stop. Look for “Connect Transit” in your App Store—it’s free too!
Armed with the application and the knowledge that it was free, I was determined to be courageous and ride my routes. I found the stops nearest my home, as well and the destinations I was interested in, and made those my “favorites.” From there I could figure out how to get around. I boarded the bus with a beverage and was nicely informed that I couldn’t consume it on the bus. My driver was very friendly and we got a chance to visit a bit as another driver was training and learning the route. He was so very helpful to everyone as there was a bit of confusion being only the second day of the new routes. The veteran riders I talked to were in the midst of re-configuring how they would get around based on the changes.
When I travel I always find myself using public transportation. That’s when it occurred to me that I don’t use it at home. I like the idea of using the bus so that I support OUR public transportation, maybe reduce my carbon footprint a little bit, and as it turns out, reduce the stigma of bus riding. When I told my before-mentioned best friend I was going to ride the bus like we did in junior high school, she asked me “Why?” “Why shouldn’t I?” I asked, and she replied “because you have a car and a valid driver’s license.” Do we assume that the only folks who would ride our bus system don’t have a either for some reason? I can see myself riding the bus to get to the Uptown Transportation Center to catch a train, to ride to the shopping mall to avoid trying to find a place to park, to and from dinner when I might want to enjoy a bit of wine, and perhaps when the weather has made the streets difficult to drive on. Do we do our teenagers a disservice by chauffeuring them around when they could be using the bus and learning independence? I admire the folks who use it as their only mode of transportation. A person must truly plan and stay on a schedule to get to a specific place at the specific time needed such as work—or church! Yes! Our buses now offer Sunday service! The newest route, Green (no more letters with routes, just colors) goes from uptown Normal, to downtown Bloomington every 15 minutes. Red route will get you to both malls. Redbird Express gets folks from one end of campus to the other.
I urge you to give our bus service, Connect Transit a try and encourage others to do so as well.
THE WHEEELS ON THE BUS GO ROUND AND ROUND—sorry, I couldn’t resist….
Dr. Sally Pyne is a retired educator who has lived in the Bloomington-Normal community all but 5 of her 50-plus years. She is married to Ed who is editor and publisher of the Normalite newspapers and they are parents of two grown daughters.
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