BUS STORY # 291 (Workin’ It)

A plan to fit you and your budget., a photo by busboy4 on Flickr.

The bus pulls over for three young dudes near the airport. They look like high schoolers, and it’s ten a.m. on a school day. 

When the doors open, one of them moves onto the first step and asks if this bus goes to Isleta and Rio Bravo. 

No, says the driver. You need to go downtown and catch the Isleta bus. 

The kid looks bummed. He turns and steps off, but the driver calls out they should just get on the bus here. 

You turn around at the airport? 

That’s right, the driver says, and then I go back downtown. 

The kids board in a row. The first two swipe their passes and head for the back. 

The third kid flashes his pass and heads for the back. 

Hey, hey, hey, come back here, says the driver. That thing is expired. 

The kid comes back. The driver takes the pass from him and looks at it. 

It expired yesterday, he tells the kid. 

The kid says he’s only got a dollar. 

What he’s telling the driver is that he needs two dollars to ride this bus downtown, then transfer to the Isleta bus. 

The driver listens, says nothing. The kid just stands there. 

I’m gonna let you ride, says the driver, but you’re gonna need that buck when you get downtown. Isleta isn’t gonna let you ride for free. 

The kid nods, turns, heads for the back. He grins at his friends in the back of the bus. 

Something about that grin’s got me thinking he’s gonna try it again downtown. Worked here, didn’t it?

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Thanks to Today’s Bus Story for this week’s featured link from Salon.