So I Take The Bus...

Due to both legal and medical reasons, I am no longer allowed to operate a motor vehicle till at least mid August of 2013 and now rely on the bus to get me around the city. The legal situation started last summer when I was involved in a DUI accident and had my licence revoked, yet continued to drive anyway, despite the warnings from others. Yes, I was well aware I was pushing my luck regardless of the fact that I had since, quit drinking and was and still am completely sober, but the fact remains, that anything can happen and there's still no short supply of other assholes on the road, but I did the best I could to stay aware and be extra vigilant. Unfortunately for me, just after hitting the six month sober mark, a neurological condition that I had been diagnosed with as a teen that had been dormant for over two decades came back with a vengeance, sending me into seizures every five minutes for 36 hours straight and hospitalizing me for five days and pretty much throwing my whole world into upheaval after it was finally over. So I'm back on meds now to keep them under control and I can't drive for six months from the day since the last seizure. My family stepped up and drew the line on that one, took the car keys, so yeah... Coincidentally, the six month point of the last seizure lines up with the time frame that my licence revocation period ends as well.
So anyway, about the bus. Public transportation isn't a totally new thing to me, in fact I used it often when I lived in the bay area. I rode my bike a lot, but I also got around just fine on the BART(the regional light rail/subway system) and bus on both sides of the bay when I lived in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley, and even when I moved down south to Santa Cruz, I made use of the bus system for a time till I got a bike then eventually got my shit together enough to purchase a car, which in  Santa Cruz was more of a necessity to a certain degree, to where Oakland/SF it was  more "optional".
My first few days using the bus system in Albuquerque were interesting in an observational sort of way. First of all, I hadn't ridden a bus in ABQ since I was in high school, and even then, I can't recall ever riding past west of Wyoming Blvd. I also noticed a strange and unexpected sense of freedom as well. What I mean by that is since I'm not the one behind the wheel, the traffic, the gas prices, insurance, maintenance sorta stuff doesn't really concern me. I just sit there and look out the window and watch for my stop. I should also mention that my probation officer has me in mental health counseling twice weekly and they provide me with free bus passes so I ride free of charge, it's awesome! I've only been riding the bus here regularly for just over a month now, in that time I've had some drunk smack me on the shoulder cause he didn't like my jacket. It was pretty comical actually, I could have easily gotten up and beaten the living shit out of him but I let it go. Another time, the first time I rode the 66 line, the Central bus, it was pretty much what I expected, a scraggly drunk passenger of indeterminate age (he told me a few blocks later he was 29) immediately plopped down in the seat next to me and introduced himself and told me how annoying he was being to the other passengers. I peered over his shoulder and seeing the other passengers facial expressions, it pretty much confirmed he was speaking the truth. He also went on to say that he had just thrown away 36 days of continuous sobriety. I decided to engage him in conversation telling him that I too was an alcoholic, but in recovery and blah blah blah... I think I messed up his buzz cause he exited the bus soon after. There was another time On the 11 Lomas line where an elderly black man had his hand down the front of his pants the whole time and appeared to be jerking off. I've read news reports of some fucked up shit happening here and there around town and a few things that friends who ride the bus have posted on Facebook, but have yet to see anything like that yet, but summer's coming so I suppose it can and probably will any day now....
The major difference in bus patronage between places like Albuquerque and San Francisco are that SF is a compact city where it's very touristy and most of the people that live there don't own cars, so the busses tend to be very crowded and filled with very diverse types of riders, to where ABQ is a city that's more spread out, not as touristy, very car oriented, and it's riders tend to fit more into a certain demographic and stereotype. There's usually always an open seat somewhere on a bus in Albuquerque, I have yet to board one where it's standing room only where it was fairly common in San Francisco.
Mass transit busses used in metropolitan regions all pretty much have the same basic design and layout. Yeah, I know there's those double decker things, and those accordion looking ones, but I'm just speaking of the regular, standard, "boring" bus!
There's the front part near the entrance and driver with the seats that you're required to get up and move if someone who's disabled or elderly boards. For the most part, that's what you'll see, elderly, people with canes or in wheelchairs, the very obese, sometimes people with small children with strollers and the occasional talkative drunk. Actually this was also where I happened to be sitting when I got smacked on the shoulder by the drunk who didn't like my jacket. He was rather talkative as well before that happened.
The next section of seating is actually my preferred section. It's the rows of seats between the disabled/elderly front area and the back exit door. Usually the back area is full, I'll explain why in a bit, but in this area there's usually always an open seat near the window at the stops where I get on. I like this part of the bus, preferably on the right hand side, because the other passengers are generally courteous and mind their own business which makes for a peaceful, problem free ride. I prefer the right hand side because I can observe both out the the front of the bus as well as the sides. Also, not that I'm a bad person or anything, but when the bus does start to get a little crowded, being a punk rocker, people still tend to avoid taking the empty seat next to me. Whatever.
And then there's the back of the bus... that section past the back exit door. There could be plenty of empty seats available on every part of the bus, but for some reason, every simple minded douchebag, lowlife, idiot, wannabe, posturing, dumbfuck, nosey, shady, moronic loser makes a fucking bee line for this part of the bus. Back there, it's like nobody can mind there own fucking business, everybody thinks they're cool, tough, slick, hard, etc. I hate to break it you, homeboy, but we're just not that cool, we ride the fucking bus! So yeah, I avoid that part of the bus if at all possible, simply because I prefer not to associate with these types and I pretty much like to be left alone when out in public. It's quite an adjustment to go from several years of getting around independently to suddenly being surrounded by complete strangers and personality types. I may attract attention but I certainly don't invite it, believe it or not, there is a difference. I'm generally friendly and courteous and mind my own business, all I ask for is the same in return.
In closing, what I would have to say about the Albuquerque public transit system is that it pretty much sucks! For a metro area with a population approaching a million, it's ridiculous! Most of the routes stop running by 8 pm, the routes are confusing and some are all over the fucking place, some only run during certain hours and weekend service can be down right appalling! Even the service in Santa Cruz, CA with a metro area population that is five times smaller had better bus service. I can pretty much get around fine during the day but after dark I'm on my own and have to plan carefully or rely on the generosity and goodwill of others. I guess I can choose to look at as either an adventure or a big fucking headache. At least there's choices I guess...