A Rookie's Guide to Twain Country: The Wheels on the Bus

Hold on to your seats, because I'm about to impart my Top 10 Reasons Why Hopping Aboard Chemung County Transit is a Great Idea.

Buses may not seem glamorous, but they're actually pretty awesome, and in a multitude of ways. Just ask Keanu.

I almost don't feel as if I need to say more than that in regards to the awesomeness of buses (or awesomely bad acting?). But I will.

I had never been to the Chemung County Transportation Center before, but since that's where you can get the lowdown on all of the available routes, I started there.

I decided, at random, to take the Southtown, Elmira-Corning, Shopper Shuttle and Mall Express routes. And these were some of the many enjoyable aspects of my public transportation quest:

1. Unexpectedly enough, blasts from video games past. How pleasantly surprised was I to see this baby helping populate a game room in the Transit Center?

I haven't seen a "Game Over" screen like that since the late eighties. Nostalgic.

It reminded me of many a childhood hour spent trying to beat my little brother at Nintendo. And if you're waiting for a bus, it's always nice to have something to do.

2. Saving money. Gas prices are nuts. Opting for the bus, even if it's every once in awhile, gives you the opportunity to use funds you'd normally be spending on a tank of gas on something else.

For the vast majority of routes, you only pay $1.25 to ride. And it's only .50 cents if you're a senior citizen (plus, you'd ride free on Mondays). Use the bus enough, and the amount you save will quickly add up. I was already feeling more cost-efficient.

Also, if you're taking to the skies and want to avoid airport parking costs, the Elmira-Corning bus that I rode includes the airport in its service area.

3. Exercise. I walked to the Transit Center, and a little throughout the afternoon to get to and from bus stops. It's a good way to get some extra steps in each day. And if you like to bike, you can easily leave your bike right at the Transit Center.

Bikes are trying to sneak their way back into another blog entry ;)

Plus, all of this increased healthiness for you is also healthier for the environment.

4. Route selection. You can get anywhere you'd want to go locally. The routes hit up plazas, schools, apartments, business districts, grocery stores, hospitals, fairgrounds, the Eldridge Park walking path, industries, service providers, museums, government buildings. It's extremely comprehensive, and you can also ask for route deviation and on-request stop service if need be.

Chemung County Transit also ventures out of the county (heck, it even ventures out of state, as you can hop a route to Sayre, Pa.) in the name of serving people who live or need to get here. Want to take a day trip to Ithaca? There's a bus for that, too.

5. Sense of community. I was pretty floored by how many of my fellow passengers knew each other by name, were happy to chat and catch up with each other, and knew where folks would be getting on or needed to be dropped off. At one stop, a woman who had gotten up out of a wheelchair was boarding, and other passengers immediately greeted and helped her to a seat.

I mean, the bus obviously provides people with a mode of transportation, but it's also providing many of them with a valuable social component and support system as well.

6. Friendly drivers. I was regularly greeted when I got both on and off the buses. Plus, this is the only bus service I've ever been on where if the driver thought we were going to be even a few seconds past scheduled arrival time, he or she would radio ahead to other buses to have them wait a few moments so that their passengers were sure to make their connection.

7. Time to ponder. I find buses to be good places to sit back and reflect. Riding along instead of having to concentrate on driving gives you time to collect your thoughts. Or make a grocery list. Whatever suits your fancy.

8. Two words. Shopper. Shuttle. This was my personal favorite. And not just because it's free (though that didn't hurt!).

Last weekend, I had a bunch of errands to run over in Horseheads. I drove to the mall, then drove to one of the shopping plazas, then drove to another one of the plazas, and then drove to ANOTHER one of the plazas. Had I known that this shuttle existed, I would have saved myself some trouble. It runs between all of the plazas and the mall every half-hour, so it's a great option if you have a little or a bunch of shopping to do.

At the mall and want to know when the next bus is passing through?

Just in case all this bus riding has you working up an appetite.

9. A chance to explore some local regions that you otherwise might not go to. I had never really seen the part of Big Flats that the Elmira-Corning bus passes through, with Minier's. And I haven't spent much time over on Southside, either, so riding the Southtown route gave me the chance to see more of what's over the bridge.

There were some shops, parks and restaurants that I hadn't heard about and thought would be good to check out sometime, plus this route hits Notre Dame High School and Southside High School, and I hadn't known exactly where they were before, either. It's definitely a good way to get to know the area if you're a newcomer like me.

Southside is home to its own homage to the Mark Twain Study.

10. Trolleys! Chemung County Transit also keeps those running, and checking out a guided tour is definitely on my summer to-do list. (On Tuesdays through Saturdays, July 1st through August 31st, trolleys depart on the hour from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. from the Holiday Inn Riverview.)