“All Aboard!”

I like to think I’m a fan of public transportation. It cuts down on traffic and it’s better for the environment. And yet every time I’m waiting for a train, bus or subway I’m always wishing I had a gas guzzling car, or even better a chauffeur. I’ve had late trains while French conductors took their coffee breaks. I’ve had smelly metros where arm pits were in my face in Rome. I’ve had metros so crowded in China I was too scared to get back on them. And I’ve had confusing bus rides in Germany where I’ve had to wait until the end of the day long trip to find out if I was on the correct bus. But this past weekend was the first time I saw a taxi masquerading as a train-and this was in Connecticut!

When looking on the train schedule online it had sporadic train times interspersed with certain train times stating “bus”. Why a bus would be running between train stops is beyond me. Not particularly convenient since they cannot take the direct route that a train would use. But the train I picked said it was actually going to be a train-or maybe a bus. But when we get to the station there was a sign that said  “the 4:00 train will be represented by a taxi”. ???? Clearly they didn’t expect it to be a crowded ride, but there were actually 3 of us. The driver did say that if there were more than four he would call another taxi. But I guess that would pretty much guarantee not getting there on time. And then I’m not sure how you would pick who went first. Rock paper scissors? I wasn’t in a particular hurry, though one of the women with me was trying to catch a connecting train. She immediately started quibbling with the taxi driver that he was two minutes late. He argued just one, she argued two. I’m guessing she doesn’t ride too many trains since 1 or 2 minutes late is pretty standard. Unfortunately we did hit traffic which there really isn’t any way around in a taxi…

He didn’t charge us for the ride, whether that was planned because the trip was a surprise taxi or because he thought connecting-train-lady would flip out again-I don’t know. But he moved too fast for me to even tip him.

My ride home was less eventful though equally free. The conductor asked if I needed to buy a ticket on the train, and when I said yes he said he would be back and never came back before my stop. So in conclusion, when it comes to public transportation expect the unexpected. Trains can be quite cheap if you don’t mind sometimes taking a taxi and waiting in traffic instead.