My Last Flxible Ride

Hello, well yesterday, the 2ND day of February, 2010 was indeed a sad day. I took what will most likely be my very last ride on a Flxible Metro transit bus, in the city of Chicago & most likely the last time I will ever get to ride a Flxible Metro. Of course, there is always the slight chance I can make it to another city that still operates Flxibles, I have a better chance of riding one at a bus museum. I hope that I can make it to one that has some Flxible Metros, that would be great! Anyway, I went to Shedd Aquarium & after going there, I took a New Flyer Artic, to catch an Orange Line train to Midway Airport, my plans were to ride a Flxible on the 55 or X55 routes but, instead I rode a Flxible on the X54 Cicero Express. FLxible Metro 6045, nice long ride from Midway to Jefferson Park Blue line station, it was a nice ride. It was sad to have to leave the bus, but apparently the CTA is not as friendly when it comes to riding the bus from the beginning of the route, to the end of the route, & back to the beginning, or what I call "Riding Around" like Transpo is. I was pretty pissed off, but came to accept this & decided to stick around the station for about 20 minutes, taking pictures of the buses as they pulled into & out of the station. I saw some more Flxibles & other buses. Finally, I took the Blue Line Subway to Clinton station & walked to Union Station. Along the way to the station, I took more bus photos & saw a few Flxibles in downtown, after staying outside for about another 20 minutes, or so, I finally went inside the station, I proceeded to the ticket counter & was shocked when the agent, asked me about my Flxible hat, which is rare! He asked "is that the same Flxible that made buses", I said "yes" & we talked for about 5 minutes, he apparently grew up riding on CTA buses, the older Flxible-Twins, & New Looks. After getting my ticket, I ate at Gold Coast Dogs & then waited to board the train & at around 6:25 or so, boarded the train, The Capitol Limited. That is all! Hope you enjoy my blog!

Riding buses in Chicago

Hello All, I should have put something about this topic on here a while ago! I live in South Bend, Indiana, this is nice because the great City Of Chicago is about a 2 hour drive or a 2 1/2 hour or so train ride from here! I like to try & make it to Chicago at least once a year, last year I set a record, I went to Chicago about 5 times, I think that is all. I looked through my photo albums & the dates I went to Chicago were: 1-31-09, 2-28-09, 3-1-09, 9-15-09, & 10-2-09. On the September & October Trips, I did ride on a Flxible Metro each time. About the CTA's fleet, they once had 800 Metros, the number is down to around 275, they were built in 1995 & will soon be retired. When I rode a Flxible on September 15th, 2009, I swear I damn near started to cry, I was so Happy I was able to ride one! Why did I almost cry, Well Because like I said, I grew up riding flxibles in South Bend & Mishawaka, so the Flxibles mean a lot to me! Anyway, I was in Chicago for the Bus Con Expo @ Navy Pier, after leaving there, I took an Orange Line Train to Midway Airport, then went to the bus station, I waited about 20 minutes just to ride a Flxible! I was waiting for one to pull in as a 55 or X 55 garfield bus, of course numerous New Flyers were running those routes, I said I have all the time in the world, to wait & I did! Then a Flxible came, 6303, one of the last ones in the order, the last one being 6329! I was happy, I rode a Flxible to the corner of 55th & Lake Park in the Hyde Park area, ate at a Pot Belly's sub shop, great food, better than SUBWAY! Then I took the South Shore back home. I also rode a Flxible on 10-2-09, I'd have to say that this poor bus was in bad shape, I rode through some pretty rough areas as well, I did not care though! Then hopefully on February 2nd, 2010 I ride one last Flxible, before being retired on or around the 7th.

Riding the bus on December 8th, 2009

Well today was the first taste of winter weather, it snowed & sleet fell along with some rain! So of course the roads are slick & the buses were running late tonight, instead of the last ones leaving @ 9:10 the buses did not leave till around 9:45 because the #7 Notre Dame/UP MAll bus was late! On another note, Transpo changed the 15A Up Mall/Main Street route, the bus serves the new St Joe Med Ctr off of Douglas Road, so the bus now goes straight down Edison Lakes PKWY then turns into the med center, anyway, the bus then proceeds down Douglas Rd, it is supposed to turn right onto Main Street, of course the dumb ass that does this route early in the day, goes straight down douglas, as if taking the old route, I said "Aren't you supposed to turn right here" she said " I am supposed to go straight" I almost said, well if you read the damn map you would see the route is not supposed to go Douglas to grape to Indian Ridge & back to Main Street anyway, what am I supposed to do? I can't help it I know what I'm talking about & you're a dumb ass!
Then later in the day I rode on the # 9 Inbound & the 10 # with Tammy & she kept saying "hold on, I want to see if the road is slick yet" anyway, some of these drivers are something else! For someone that complains about Transpo, I still ride with the drivers, the ones that I like anyway! I also rode on the downtown Trolley route with Pat, he is a good driver too! That stupid Optima Fake trolley pos was slipping & Sliding around, the trolley almost did not make it up some hills either! There are some that I am good friends with & some I can't stand! Well that raps things up for now!

My trip to Indy!

My dad & I went to Indianapolis on the 1st & the 2nd of this month! I had a nice trip, of course all I saw was Gilligs, Phantoms & Low Floors. IndyGo is the largest transit agency in the great state of Indiana! With a fleet of around 140 buses ranging from 29-40 feet in length! They have about 40 Phantoms 97s & 98s & the rest of their buses are Low Floors from Gillig, also a handful of Optima Opus buses! We went to Circle Center Mall in downtown, nice mall, a Simon Mall of course, like most malls in the state! I like this mall since they have a Gameworks Studio on the top floor, this is a big arcade, I love arcades! On another note when growing up, I always went to Scottsdale Mall, located on the south side of South Bend, this mall was unfortunately torn down in 2004, to make way for an outdoor mall, called Erskine Village. Scottsdale was great, they had an Aladdin's Castle arcade & an Enzos' Pizza! What great memories! Anyway in Indy, we stayed at a Red Roof Inn, in the town of Speedway, located near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway of course! We stayed there for the night, ate at a White Castle, of course I had a stomach ache afterward! Then on the 2nd we went to the motor speedway museum & took a 10 minute shuttle bus ride around the track! Then we looked inside the museum, I sat inside of an Indy Car, almost didn't get out of it either! After we left there, I had my dad drive me downtown, to photograph some buses, of course some of the photos turned out kind of blurry! I took about 150 shots of various buses, on Ohio near Meridian & Illinois streets! After this, we headed back to the great city of South Bend, stopping @ A White Castle on US 31 in Kokomo, Indiana! If only South Bend or Mishawaka had a White Castle, life would be good, don't forget some Flxible Metros, too! After getting home, I later went out & rode the bus, with Tammy & Jason, both of which are good friends of mine! That concludes this post, I hope someone reads it!

What I do all day long.

Hello, this is one of my 1st blogs, so bare with me! My name is Richard, I do not work right now, so what do I do with all of my time? I am going to school to get my high school diploma, yes I was stupid & dropped out of high school, I was supposed to be in the class of 2005 at Mishawaka High School, so now I am attending Stratford Career Institute, to get my diploma. Another thing I enjoy doing (mostly don't enjoy) is riding around on the buses of Transpo, in South Bend & Mishawaka, Indiana. The fleet consists of 11 Phantoms & 41 Low Floors, I prefer riding on the Phantoms, since I like to talk with the driver, it is easier to here them when I am next to them! People say I complain too much, maybe I do but, I can't help it sometimes! I try to get along with the drivers, some are real ass holes! I mean, Of the 65 or so Transpo drivers, some I don't ride with because I only ride certain routes, so I don't see a lot of the drivers, some drivers I ride with a lot, some I wish I did not have to ride with, some are my really good friends. Yeah I know what I am talking about when a driver seems to not know what they are doing, is this my fault you are too stupid to figure out why the bus won't move? If you read the operator's manual or looked at the idiot light panel, you'd see the orange light that says kneel & you'd know that your bus is kneeled & it won't move! Tonight one jerk off, said if you don't have anything nice to say about the drivers then I don't want to talk to you. So I shut up! People don't seem to understand I have problems, it can be hard for me to get along with people sometimes, this is why I don't work! I said all of the good drivers always quit or get fired & he said there you go "all of the drivers" I said, I like some drivers & others I don't. Anyway, I like to talk with some of the drivers, I am good friends with them. I hope that they are my friends, but who knows? Thanks for reading my blog! Have a nice day.