bus ride

I interviewed a 42 year old Hispanic female, named Amy. She told me that she utilizes the GET bus as her primary form of transportation every day. She finds the GET bus to be a convenient form of transportation most of the time. Since her walk to the nearest bus stop is about a mile, this bus rider finds this method of transportation inconvenient during extreme hot or extreme cold temperatures. She is able to reach her destinations in a timely manner by using her time management skills and a good understanding of the schedules of the GET bus. The cost to use the GET bus is not a significant factor because she gets a free GET bus monthly voucher from a program at the local career services center.
I interviewed a 22 year old Hispanic male student, named Joey. He regularly rides the GET bus on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to go to Bakersfield College. He finds the GET bus transportation system convenient because any other means of transportation (taxi, or carpooling) would be more expensive for him. He says he is able to reach his destinations in a timely manner as long as he plans out his times of departure in advance. He states that cost is not a significant factor for him because with his income, he is able to afford the three dollar fare for a daily pass.
I interviewed a 23 year old White female, named Jessica. She typically utilizes the GET bus as her form primary form of transportation once a week on Fridays, because her mother needs Jessica’s car to go to regular doctor appointments. Riding the GET bus is a convenient alternative method of transportation, but she does not like the idea of getting up an hour and a half extra early once a week in order to make it to school on time. She does not feel the cost of a day pass is a significant factor because she is employed and can afford the daily fare.
I interviewed an 18 year old African American female, named Allyson. The GET bus transportation system is her primary form of transportation every day of the week to go to school, work and grocery shopping. Since she does not own a vehicle, she feels the GET bus is the most convenient method of transportation for her. Allyson said that she is able to reach her destinations on time but she thinks that she can work on managing her time better. The cost of the bus fare is not a significant factor for her because she receives a monthly bus pass at no cost to her from a program at Bakersfield College.
I interviewed a 50 year old male, named Gene. He stated that the GET bus is a convenient form of transportation for him whenever he needs to run errands and his kids are too busy to give him a ride. He is able to reach his destinations on time as long as he monitors the GET bus time schedule closely and leaves his house with plenty of time to spare. The price of the bus fare is not a significant factor for Gene. It is not a burden to pay for his bus fare once in a while. However, he does feel that for his age and the fact that he is unable to work because he is disabled, he should qualify to receive free vouchers for transportation.
I live less than half a mile away from the nearest bus stop (Mt. Vernon & California Ave.), which heads Westbound. I decided to visit the Department of Health Services (DHS) on California and Union Ave. I headed to this bus stop at approximately three in the afternoon to get bus number 21, heading Westbound.
Getting on and riding the GET bus was not unfamiliar for me because the GET bus was my primary source of transportation ever since I was a little girl, up until I was 16 years of age, when I purchased my own vehicle. It was actually very nice to reminisce about my childhood experiences of riding the GET bus. When I got on the bus, I felt right at home. The vibe I received from the other bus riders felt warm. There were about 12 people on the bus at the time that I got on. Three of the people that I sat near to, greeted me with, “Hi,” and, “Hello, how are you?” I kindly returned the greeting. It was apparent that two of the other bus riders knew each other, at least in a casual manner from their encounters on the bus. They were discussing an incident that occurred a couple weeks ago on the bus.
I felt that all the bus riders and the bus driver were kind and welcomed me into their environment. The bus riders appeared happy to have company.
I decided to interview the first three people that I met on the first bus stop (Mt. Vernon & California) that I waited on while waiting for bus number 21, westbound. I interviewed two other individuals once I got in bus number 21, on my way to the DHS. I prepared myself for the possibility that some individuals may not want to speak to me. Thankfully, everyone I spoke with was very kind and understanding of my project. I believe that part of the reason why people voluntarily accepted to be interviewed after I told them about this project, was because I had already built positive rapport with the individuals. I think if I would have been more direct about my intentions, some of the individuals would not have been as willing to answer my questions.
The bus rides were brief because I live near the intersection of Mt. Vernon and California Ave., which is in between DHS and Kern Medical Center (KMC), about two miles in either direction. The majority of the people in the bus appeared grateful of the service of public transportation. The people I interviewed reflected being appreciative of the GET bus because they understood that without it their lives might be a lot more difficult.
Discuss with other classmates
Throughout the process, I felt glad that I was required to conduct this project because I doubt that I would have conducted it voluntarily since I now own my own vehicle. Although, during more than half of my life, they GET bus was my main source of transportation. I had forgotten how it felt to rely on others to transport me. I currently leave my house approximately 20 minutes prior to my estimated time of arrival, but I know that if I had to ride the GET bus I would have to leave at least one to two hours prior to my estimated time of arrival at California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB). This was a humbling experience and served as a reminder to not take my life for granted.

I reminded myself to not arrive to any conclusions regarding the individuals that rode the GET bus.
The part of this exercise that I liked the most was being able to recall my childhood memories. My experience throughout this exercise was very positive, so I do not have any major complains. However, a minor part of this exercise that I liked the least would be the scent of incense in the bus. The scent of incense has always been a minor negative memory amongst all my memories. (((( 10)))))During this exercise, I was able to learn, or maybe I should say that I relearned things about myself that I had forgotten. I had forgotten to take the time to value my privilege of being able to walk to my driveway and get into my car without breaking a sweat, drive to my destination in peace, play the music of my choice and roll down the window if it is a fresh day. Although, I do not see riding a GET bus any more substandard than riding my own vehicle, I do believe that riding my vehicle is a luxury because I know that if I needed to I could rely on the GET for transportation any day. Moreover, through
(((12))) In addition to the interview questions, I also asked my interviewees what they thought were the advantages and challenges of this form of transportation. According to my interviewees, it is a challenge to use the GET bus as a form of transportation because any rider is subject to the breathing in of other peoples’ germs and the smell of bad body odors. Additional reasons of why people find this form of transportation challenging, include: being late to appointments whenever the buses are behind schedule, having to stand up the entire time due to overcrowded buses, having a bad driver, and having to listen to annoying loud people on the bus.
On the other hand, bus riders believe that there are many benefits from using the GET bus transportation system. The following are some examples of the benefits using the GET bus transportation system: not having to buy the fuel, not having to be responsible for accidents, not having to walk, not having to worry about parking (specially for college students), sightseeing opportunities, and overall being able to do more while traveling. The GET bus transportation system can also have a positive influence on the environment if more people relied on the GET bus as their primary form of transportation because this would lead to fewer cars on the road, and save people gas money. In addition, if buses were switched from fueled- powered engines to alternate power such as hydrogen fuel cell or hybrid types the air we breathe may become a lot more pure.
It was really nice to have the opportunity to converse with the individuals that I did. From these individuals, I learned that many people that have to use the GET bus transportation system as their primary form of transportation are thankful that this opportunity exists. I learned that without the GET bus transportation system, people may be unable to be employed because they would be unable to get to work in a timely manner.
In addition to the individuals I interviewed, I got the opportunity to converse with other people. The majority of the people I spoke with initiated the conversation with me, so I simply continued the conversation enthusiastically. I think the fact that I look like I know Spanish, many Spanish speaking only ladies expressed their curiosity and asked why it appeared that I was taking notes about people and things in the bus. I was happy to explain this exercise to whoever wanted to know. The Spanish speaking ladies shared with me that they thought it was a great idea that one of my social worker instructors would have me conduct this exercise because they feel that none of their healthcare providers understand that public transportation can be inconvenient at times and therefore lack sympathy when transportation issues arise. They also mentioned that they hope I become a great social worker one day so that I can be available to help them if they need me in the future. I told them that I would definitely strive to be the best social worker that I can be.
It had been about nine years since the last time that I rode in a GET bus, so there were some things that I had to learn because the GET bus transportation system had undergone some changes last year