Happiness is a shared walk

The other day as I was walking home from the bus stop on my way home from work, I passed a young woman and said a cursory hello.  To my surprise, she sped up her pace a bit and started walking with me.  The sun was setting -- it does that earlier these days and I'd worked late -- and she seemed relieved have another woman to walk with.  I realized that this wasn't just from a safety issue -- Saxonwold is usually pretty tame -- but more for the company.  She told me that her name was Happiness and that she walks from her home in Norwood to her job as a domestic in Parkview every day, twice a day.  Now I'm a hell of a walker, but she's completely got me beat.  I thought about all the people that think my walking as exceptional, but people like Happiness walk farther every day with much less fanfare.  Buses don't serve that route and to take taxis would require two taxis in each direction, which would eat into her day's profit.  So, like me, Happiness hits the pavement.  We spent the time chit-chatting about our lives here, where we come from (Zim for her, America for me), our families, our love lives, religion; covering quite a few topics for a 15 minute walk, really.  As I turned to head up my street, I wished her the best in beating the rapidly setting sun.  She still had a 30 minute walk ahead of her with about 10 minutes of sunlight left.

Steamy mornings on the bus

Bring your own squeegee.

Changing with the season

I've never understood why Jo'burgers deny that they have an autumn.  I've heard this for years, even as I watch leaves dry and collect on the curb, days shorten and shadows get longer.  Trust me, you've got it, and you've got it good.  Embrace it; fall is the most sentimental time of the year.  Early morning walks lately have been perfect: breezy and crisp, with golden sunlight filtering through departing overnight clouds.  It's sweater weather.  So, get out and enjoy it.  We've started the slow slide into winter and it will be here soon.  Go for a walk, go for a bike ride.  Catch a falling leaf and make a wish, hold someone's hand.  Just get out of your flat, get out of your car, get outside and enjoy fall in Jo'burg.  It's real.

It's over!!

Pop the corks!  The strike is done!  When I first heard the news I was thrilled, but then I had to laugh: I was excited to get back on the same Metrobus system that has let me down so much in recent months with its inconsistency, overcrowding and unprofessionalism?!  It was like celebrating the reunion of an abusive relationship.  But then I thought about it more and realized that having an operational bus service – flaws and all – is infinitely better than no bus service, and now I can again focus on highlighting room for improvement.

I really am very excited to get my routine back.  I’m so tired of my stop-gap measures for getting to work and can’t wait to take a Saturday bus again.  I’m curious to see the drivers who get assigned to my usual routes – and really hope it isn’t the popsicle eating/cell phone talking driver who can’t find her way out of Fourways Mall parking lot.

Putco earned my respect, even if the drivers never wanted to stop for me in the morning.  It presents itself as a well-run company and makes me sing a little song of privatization when I think of how it puts Metrobus to shame on so many levels.  Yes, they also face overcrowded buses, but their buses are designed to seat more, and I even checked out one of the new double-length buses (popular in San Francisco and other transit-forward cities) and it was wonderfully spacious.   Many of their buses are very nice indeed.  One recently even had a sweet stereo unit and the driver was blasting Toni Braxton and Michael Bolton.  At Fourways Mall, Putco has a roving dispatch man – something that Metrobus does not – who everyday would tell me which bus to board for Rosebank.  He seems to only have two teeth – the two canines on the top, which are extra long, and look like wolf fangs.  I built up a good rapport with him through these five weeks although I had to scold him today for sending me on the wrong bus Tuesday.  Instead of going near Rosebank like he promised, the bus went a totally different direction.  I jumped off in the nick of time on Barry Hertzog in Emmarentia before it headed further west.  I had to walk back to Killarney from there in a light rain a few days after losing my umbrella.  I may even miss the unsolicited compliments from the Putco drivers.  Today one seriously said this, “Those two buses leave at the same time, but you should take that one because you’re beautiful.”  I don’t understand that logic, but I’ll take it, Mr. Putco driver.  I’ll take it.

I also took minibus taxis twice with the ever-helpful Yara as my guide.  Let me tell you, those things have so many systems all their own and I would have been clueless without her.  From navigating the Bree Street taxi rank to knowing how to pay – for those also uninitiated, you pass the money a few people at a time to the person in the front seat (the banker) and I’m SO glad I didn’t jump on the urge to sit front seat on my first ride – to how to request a stop (“Steps!”), it’s just a whole world unto itself.  The minibuses still worry me as imminent deathtraps, but they sure are a faster alternative to walking from Helen Joseph to Killarney and a wonderful peek into colorful neighborhoods that I rarely visit: Brixton, Mayfair, Fordsburg, then through Newtown on the way to the taxi rank. 

It’s been five weeks of making do, figuring out alternatives, getting frustrated, being late, walking a ton, and finding new adventures.  Ultimately I feel more self-sufficient and knowledgeable about my city for having gone through it.  So, thanks Metrobus.  Ha, yeah right.  Now can you please just get back to work?

Getting by

It's now coming on four weeks that the Metrobus has been on strike.  It's been interesting to observe how little attention the strike gets.  In that sense, it feels like it could go on forever.  I mean, what are the striking bus drivers doing?  What is Metrobus doing?  Certainly not updating their website with any news -- not even a single mention! -- of the ongoing strike.  There's just a feeling of ambivalence and listlessness.  Even news outlets seem to shrug.  Every couple of days I do a Google search for Metrobus news but rarely find anything worth reading.  On 702 one morning, John Robbie read an SMS from a disabled Metrobus rider asking for an update on the strike.  "It's still on."  Thanks for the insightful update.

I'm not ambivalent.  I actually miss the Metrobus.  I miss knowing my routes and the freedom I feel, particularly on Saturdays, when I can hop on and go anywhere.  I've been getting to work in the same piecemeal fashion described before, but it gets pretty tiring.  The excitement of the new challenge has long since worn off.  The Randburg CBD, through which Putco buses detour, ceases to be interesting after the tenth or so trip and reveals itself to be a bit of a dive.  I miss being able to use my pre-paid Metrobus card (with unused credit on it) and am tired of always having to have R10 and R20 notes on hand.  Going past Gandhi Square a couple of Saturdays ago was surreal: barren, but for some people and pigeons. 

But thank goodness I still have my trusty two feet, which I've been relying on more than ever.  A couple of weeks ago, I got stuck in one of the scariest, yet wildest and most exhilarating, thunderstorms I've ever seen, much less been trapped in.  Just as I was halfway along my hour-and-a-half walk from Helen Joseph to Killarney, lightening started striking all around me followed by instant, terrifying thunder.  Then the rain came and made quick work of soaking Westcliff Drive.  Within a few minutes, the road had enough standing water to rival a wading pool.

Trapped as I was and freaked out by the lightening, I pushed up against a cement wall, hoping that in some way it would protect me. I let some ivy form a rain barrier around my umbrella, although by then nothing could keep me from getting soaked.  There is a certain point when stuck in a rainstorm that you just have to embrace it and have a big laugh about how drenched you are and how flooded the roads.  I hid in my little leafy enclave for nearly 30 minutes until the rain finally slowed, and then sloshed through deep puddle after deep puddle on the way home to a dry bathrobe and a glass of wine.

No love from Metrobus (and the feeling is mutual)

I'm gonna need to pour myself a glass of wine and get settled in to tell this tale.  Oh, Metrobus.  Please get yourself together.  Things were going remarkably well until December.  You may have heard that there was a one-day strike early that month.  This disrupted my commute to work, taking me three hours to get to work on a very important day, but still it was short-lived and I didn't think too much of it.

It turns out that the strike was in protest of a change in the Metrobus drivers' shifts.  They didn't lose jobs or wages, just changed shifts/routes.  In January, when the changes went into effect, the daily commute became a guessing game.  At Fourways Mall, after I got off work, I would wait for a bus and when one finally arrived, I wouldn't know if it was supposed to be the 3:50, 4:15 or 4:30 -- one would show at a random time and of course it would then get insanely packed with desperate, aggressive riders.  We had new drivers, including one who not only didn't know the route and the stops, she needed directions from the passengers just to get out of the Fourways Mall parking lot.  This particular gem also mastered the art of eating a popsicle with one hand, talking on the phone with the other, and driving a bus full of about 100 people at the same time.  What a pro!

On another day, Yara and I waited 40 minutes in Braamfontein during the morning rush hour to get a bus to Helen Joseph.  Usually we have our pick of four different routes, but in the 40 minutes, only two buses went by, and neither stopped for us.  That day it took me two hours to get from Killarney to Helen Joseph.

Also that week, Metrobus posted a letter from management apologizing for the December strike and providing a phone number to report service disruptions. Both Yara and I that day phoned to report our recent experiences and were told that the complaint person (yes, they have only one) was out of the office and did not have voicemail.  Such comedy!

So all of that is to say that things were bad in January.  Sloppy, unreliable, frustrating.  Well, how did they go one step further...strike!  Yep, starting last week, another strike was called.  But at first not all drivers were participating, and in trying out a new route due to the change, I encountered one of the most professional Metrobus drivers I've ever seen.  But I'm sure even he's not driving now, as there are no Metrobuses at all on the roads and I've heard that the strikers are intimidating those who continued driving and threatening violence. 

I typically have a lot of support for Metrobus and the drivers I ride with every day.  But I have absolutely no solidarity with this childish behavior and thuggery.  Dealing with changes in your job is part of having a job.  There are so many people in this city that rely on bus drivers, but the louche, entitled behavior that they've demonstrated in the past two months makes me think that a clean slate wouldn't be a bad idea, particularly when there are sooo many people who would be thrilled to earn an honest wage.

Metrobus corporate also is handling this terribly.  In addition to their genius customer service rep, their website often has surprisingly interesting features on events around town, particularly the evolving inner-city,  but good luck trying to find an update on the strike.

To get around, I've been experimenting with a mis-mesh of methods.  To Fourways in the mornings, it's usually Putco up Oxford Rd to the Gautrain bus (be sure to fill up that gold card in advance!).  On the way back, it's Putco from Fourways Mall, but they only go as far as Rosebank on Jan Smuts, so I walk from there.  I gotta give a shout-out to the driver Juke, who chatted with me for about 20 minutes before we departed the other day and was most amused to see, as he explained, a white woman on the bus to Soweto.  He used the time chatting to extol the virtues of having a black boyfriend and nominated himself for the role.

Today, it wasn't enough just to find the right bus: the Putco bus I was on actually broke down on Jan Smuts in Craighall, so I gave up waiting for another and walked the rest.  Fortunately I was in a great mood and the weather was idyllic, so I just put on my headphones and enjoyed it.  Sure it may have taken me 2 1/2 hours to get home from Fourways, but I still felt bad for the people in cars stuck in traffic.

Getting to Helen Joseph is even harder since it involves a transfer.  I think I'm going to have to experiment with minibus taxis.  Ay yi yi.  Last week, I just laced up my sneakers, pulled my hair back, threw my cinder block of a laptop into a backpack and walked the whole way -- an hour and a half.  It certainly beats waiting, that's for sure.  I may do that again tomorrow.  And it picked up on my first-ever walk from Killarney to Melville a few weeks ago, where I took a wrong turn and got lost in Richmond.  But now I know: from tony Westcliff Drive, don't forget to turn right at the pretty flowers and carry on.

Bus stop!

So, that's how you request a stop on the Metrobus.  You say clearly, "bus stop!"  I feel that this is worth sharing because I only realized that, oh, maybe four weeks ago and I've been taking the bus regularly now for, oh, seven months or so.  I'm used to buses in other cities where you push the button, pull the cord, even touch the magnetic strip to discreetly, perhaps passively, indicate a stop request.  Nope.  In that absence, I've sheepishly made my way to the front of the bus and shyly asked the driver for the next stop.  But then, out of nowhere a few weeks ago, it was everyone around me: "Bus stop!" "Bus stop!"  I thought, "How have I not known this before?!"  And of course almost every bus has a stop-indicator button -- never you mind that because you know it doesn't work and even if it did, that's not how things are done!  Things are done with "Bus stop!"...and now you know too!

The case of the strangely elusive Gautrain

It's been an exhilarating few months witnessing the triumph of the Gautrain.  Long slandered in the years leading to 2010 as the folly of the World Cup and symbol of the country's incompetence, the Gautrain remains a lasting icon of the optimism of the games and a reminder of what South Africa can accomplish.  Today it is one of the country's few methods of public transportation that has been embraced by many strata of South Africans -- not only those who must rely on public transportation, but also those who choose to do so.  Particularly in Jo'burg, that is a rare thing indeed.

Oh so subtle

I've had several opportunities to take the Gautrain in the seven months since its debut and I love that it works so well and its ridership appears steady.  I've already griped about the Gautrain bus (Gaubus?) and its frankly stupid policy of not accepting cash fares and making passengers jump through logistical hurdles just to board.  In a similar way, I think the Gautrain misses the mark in terms of its airport presence.  Have you ever tried to find it?  For such a major draw and one that clearly has a big marketing budget, why is it so hard to find in the airport?  With all their billboards around town, why isn't there one in the airport?

Which floor for Gautrain?

Instead, you have walk around until you find the low-key "Train" sign.  When I first saw that, I thought, wait, that can't mean the Gautrain...it would say Gautrain, or show its logo.  I wondered if that meant MetroRail.  I headed cautiously to the lift, but then I wasn't sure which floor to select, since there's no placard for Gautrain.  Even now that I've done this for several trips, I am always amazed at how diminished Gautrain's presence is for such a big deal.

In the whole scheme of things, this probably is a minor point, so kudos to Gautrain for getting the big stuff out of the way, but this still another example of the Gautrain operation missing the mark.  I'll say it again: you can't make it difficult for people to use your service.  Marketing inside the airport may seem counter-intuitive, but think about the captive audience that may have driven for their current trip, but might be swayed for future trips.  Or tourists that aren't sure how to get around.   An increased presence for Gautrain within the airport will help to boost its ridership to ensure its sustainable operation.

On a side note, I was really happy to see pedestrians and cyclists abound in Stellenbosch.  So, it seems that the fear and aversion to hitting the pavement isn't wholly endemic to South Africa.  Which leads me to ask: why you so lame like that, Jo'burg?

A confession

This might be out of place on this blog, but just to show that I'm not wholly anti-car, I will fess up to craving one lately.  But not for what you might think: not for the usual getting around, and certainly not for getting caught in Jo'burg traffic, but only to listen to music and drive fast.  There's a Kanye song that's been stuck on repeat in my flat, and with every listen, I feel an urgency that can only be sated by a car window full of summer air and fast speeds.  There is absolute perfection to be found in that one moment where the music and the road harmonize to remove everything else from your mind in a blast of sensation-seeking satisfaction.  Yes, what should be on your mind is driving and paying attention to the road, so it's probably good that I am not getting my fix.  And I really don't recommend this for city roads -- God knows the last thing Jo'burg needs is more dangerous, distracted drivers.  But I've had such memorable drives accompanied by iconic soundtracks: my senior year of college and the whole of OK Computer (sorry Josh), the Thailand coast set to the Decemberists (sounds incongrous, but it was magic), Mexico and Ween.  For me, driving fast into a song is a bit like riding a roller coaster -- similarly, cars are fun, but I don’t want to own one.  So for my day-to-day, it's happily feet and buses, but for my fantasy escape, between you and me and Kanye, it's Runaway and wheels.

Thanks, Cleo!

Cleo Magazine selected this little project as "A blog we love" on their Twitter site.  Thanks, Cleo!  If any new readers have stories they'd like to share about rockin' the car-free life in JHB, then email me or leave a comment!

Bathtime!

While walking miles and miles a day may be great for the environment and your health, it can be murder on your shoes. Mine have an especially tough go of it -- not only do they make their way over the better part of Jo'burg, but they also get dragged through mud, sloshed by dank puddles and paraded down dusty paths. It doesn't take long of wearing a new pair until I look down (often during a business meeting) and see that I've got cruddy shoes and filthy ankles. Plus it's hell on heels. I have to avoid heels flat-out during my commute and not because they're uncomfortable -- I grew up strutting around in my grandmother's hand-me-down Ferragamos -- but because I wear out the heel tips in a day or two. But in the spirit of the new year, I got my heels repaired by the man on the street with the little suitcase in my neighborhood, and came home and gave 8 pairs a soapy, happy bath.

Lookout Jo'burg...we're hitting the streets.

Reasons to walk: #487

Playtime with the neighborhood doggies!

Sending a shout-out to this little cutie who makes me smile everyday on my walk home.

Creeps

It's happened twice now that while I've been out walking, men have approached me in cars to ask if I was OK.  I think it is worth noting that both times the men were white and the overall tone was "a nice white girl like you shouldn't be walking alone."  It's also worth noting, with exasperation, that both times I was walking in Saxonwold, quite a locked-down secure suburb if ever there was one.  It's somewhat shocking to me that men think I would actually get in the car with a stranger (my mother's #1 gigantic no-no when I was a child) rather than walk 25 minutes through a leafy neighborhood to the bus.  Similarly, a very nice man that I work with said to me today, "I saw you walking here -- is everything OK?  Are you safe?"  I appreciate his concern and I understand that I look different than the average person strolling past, oh, the man selling boiled cow's head down the road, but the overall idea is the same.  Times like these make me think THIS COUNTRY IS INSANE!  Somehow it would be fine to get in a car with a complete stranger, but it's not OK to take a peaceful walk?  What's a gal gotta do to take a walk around here?  I'll say it again: if more people who looked like me got out of their houses and cars and walked, the fear and mystery would evaporate.  The streets would safer and more pleasant.  I know that there can be real risks and I know that I'm not invincible.  But I also refuse to fall into the trap of thinking that every person on the street is inherently bad or out to hurt me.  I think I'm proof that the risk is not as imminent as people imagine.  As it is, I think 3 very real and immediate dangers of walking are 1) cars driving dangerously and not yielding to pedestrians, 2) UV exposure from the harsh sunlight, and 3) falling bird poop.

Why I walk

Now that my commute has become so routine, I don't think much about it anymore.  But today I realized how much I appreciate the part of the commute that most people assume is the worst: the walk.  When I describe my commute to others, most people frown when I say that I walk 25 minutes to Zoo Lake before getting on the bus, and then walk back again after work.  Often I think this disclosure actually evokes pity or shame about my car-free situation.  So today I thought about what it would be like if I drove straight home.  Sure, I probably could get home quicker, but my walk is my break time; my time to think and not to think.  It clears my head after a busy day and is a welcome, leafy respite from staring at a glowing screen at work before sitting in front of another one or two at home.  The added perk is peeking through the gates of the zoo and seeing antelopes, zebras, guinea fowl and even sometimes hearing an irritable lion.  Even an afternoon rainstorm is more of an amusing adventure than a hassle.  Plus there's the obvious exercise benefit, which in my book translates to more dessert.  Of course it would be great to sleep in an extra 25 minutes in the morning, but the summer sun starts nudging me awake at 5:30am anyway, so that's pretty much a lost cause.  Being a city gal for my entire adult life, long walks are an essential part of my lifestyle, and I'm happy to have adapted to life in Jo'burg without giving up something so vital.

Mandie's visit

Diary of an epic car-free day...

7:05 am
Awaiting the timely arrival of the 80F

7:25 am
Grabbing the sweet seats on the upper deck of the MetroBus

8:05 am
Ms. SPF 3000 leads the last leg of the journey to Mangwanani on foot

8:30 - 5pm
Maxin', relaxin', etc, etc.

6pm
Two greased-up chicas catch the last Putco bus headed south from Fourways

8pm
Rose Taxi takes us out on the town

Gautrain, or, how not to operate a bus service

I've heard some rumblings in the media about the lack of ridership on Gautrain buses, as if it is an indication of the unwillingness of Jo'burgers to embrace public transport.  Certainly, I see the buses run frequently and I've never seen more than 2 passengers at a time on one.  Mind you, I'm usually viewing this through the window of a MetroBus crammed with people.  So, what gives?  Why would the public -- seasoned bus riders or otherwise -- forgo such swank new rides?

Is it that the routes are foreign?  Yes, but they also fill in necessary gaps that MetroBus omits, so surely there would be a demand there.  Is it because they cost more?  Possibly, but at R20 a trip, I think they're still pretty affordable.

I realized the enormous problem with the Gautrain buses when I tried to catch a lift on the Fourways to Sandton route.  I'd wondered if you could pay with cash, so I checked out the website.  You can't!  OK, well, not to worry too much.  I already had a Gautrain gold card from a train ride a few months ago -- I'd just refill it.  Good luck with that.  To refill your card you have to go to...the Gautrain station.  Where the bus takes you!  Ah logic, you old devil, you.

So I did further research (that's what I'm here for, folks) and found out that there now are a few additional locations where one can purchase a bus pass.  And one was in Fourways -- I was in luck!  Departing for an early lunch break, I spent more than an hour navigating the endless dreck of Fourways, and after asking three different people for directions, I finally came upon the Pineslopes Spar.  With card in hand, I asked at the customer service desk to add bus fare, and was pointed towards a machine where, along with airtime for all cell carriers, was one button for the Gautrain card preloaded with R30.  Yep, R20 for the bus and R10 for the card.  So much for those reusable cards we've all been carrying around!

According to the Gautrain website there are now six -- SIX! -- such machines throughout the entire city of Jo'burg.  So, those are your options for filling up your card, unless you do that at the station.  Sorry, but what is so hard about putting these machines in more places?  Certainly the ones with just airtime are everywhere. 

Gautrain buses are doomed for failure, plain and simple, and it's such a damn shame.  When it happens, it won't actually be an indictment of public transport in this city, but watch how many people will claim that it is.  It will be due purely to poor management decisions about the bus operations.  The buses already don't run on weekends or public holidays -- exactly the time when folks might want to dash off for a short getaway.  But when they do operate, they're empty because the people who run the show made it too damn tough to get onboard.  If you want people to accept your buses, you can't make them jump through hoops to do it.  Tickets should be available everywhere, or better yet...JUST TAKE CASH!

Catching up on a life in transit

Happy car-free day! Please don't hit the schoolgirl.

Well, well, much to catch up on in this busy city. Happy car free day, everyone! It was Wednesday. Oh, did you miss it? So did pretty much the whole city, so don't feel bad! I looked for obvious signs of this: I spotted the street advertisements (A+!), heard that Rea Vaya and Gautrain buses were free (hello, Metrobus?!?) and even heard John Robbie briefly talk about it on 702. But pretty much, it was a wash. Apparently some city officials were planning to take public transport for the whole day, bless 'em, but seems like just a drop in the bucket without the involvement of corporations, civic organizations and all arms of government.

My side

The other side

My own personal car-free experience continues unabated and with quite a big shift. Helen Joseph is out for a while and Witkoppen Clinic (Fourways) is in. For 6 weeks there I was loving doing hard-core statistical coding everyday, even starting to dream in SAS code (when I coded my life, the covariates were binary...should I worry?). But after making the switch from data geek to working in the clinic, I'm completely loving the other side of the job, which is the rugged, unpredictable and rewarding one. Working in Fourways is kinda a mind fuck. Clearly my clinic is on the wrong side of the Nicol, in that stark dichotomy that South Africa seems to have perfected. Across the street is a Checkers Hyper, car dealerships, new housing developments, and everything that comes with the gleaming ever-expanding geography of upmarket Jo'burg. On our side, though, we've got dirt paths, school girls jumping rope, women with big boiling pots over open fires, men selling fat cakes, and lots and lots of HIV and TB patients. If you know me, you know I'll take my side any day.

Fat cakes!

And Metrobus hasn't let me down. I now take just one bus, where Helen Joseph required a transfer in Braamfontein. The bus back in the afternoon is an experience, for sure. Walking to the Fourways Mall, I'm friendly with the dudes selling sun hats, pirated DVDs, wallets, oh, you name it. In the mall parking lot, you sometimes get the odd entrepreneur selling seriously random things. I think seeing two dudes selling R10 Parmalat yogurt 6-packs out of the back of their car takes the cake. And the guy selling eggs. Hmm, yogurt and eggs...could there even be anything more perishable to be selling in the open sunlight?! And the return trip on the bus is such a festive social scene of working people of all ages and races. Everyone knows everyone's name. Ladies sell frozen popsicles and bags of chips for R2 or R3 as soon as the wheels start rolling. Times like these make me smile, but also a bit sad when I think about how many people miss out and just don't get it with the bus. The idea that the bus is a dangerous haven for crime is just plain wrong. If anything, it's one of the most integrated, harmonious environments that I encounter regularly, and all it's missing is more white South Africans to make it even more fully representative. What say you, folks? Won't you you step aboard?

Where the sidewalk ends

Your flowers are pretty, but I want my sidewalk back

One thing I regularly see in Jo'burg that I've never noticed in another city is the personal claiming of the sidewalk/pavement by homeowners. Parkhurst is almost comically egregious for this. One minute you're casually walking on the pavement, and the next minute it disappears into a modernist landscaping fiasco leaving you to veer out into the street. Seriously, you can weave back and forth between pavement and street for block after block in some neighborhoods.

Fancy landscaping + safe pedestrian passage?  Well done!

I understand and appreciate the beautification aspect of said landscaping, but Jo'burg is major city with a large population! In other big cities, you can get a whopping fine just for parking your car on the sidewalk for a few minutes. But in Jo'burg, you apparently can claim the pavement all for your very own, sending pedestrians out to the streets to fend with the cars. In a city with a shocking rate of pedestrian deaths, maybe safe urban planning actually begins at home.

Stepping away from the ledge (yay to Yara!)

Well, well, what a difference a day makes! Today at work, apropos of nothing, my coworker Yara and I discovered that we both are in the car-free club. Yara is a hip Mozambican researcher (and hopefully future contributor to this blog) who actually owns a car, but dislikes driving in Jo'burg and simply prefers taking the bus and walking. And man, does she know her stuff! She was 100 times better than the Metrobus call centre in explaining the (many!) buses that could drop me directly in front of Helen Joseph. She even understands the secret language of the bus numbers. We also swapped stories about the weird misconceptions that people who don't ride the bus have about it and its passengers, and about walking in this city: people have slowed down in their cars and asked if she was OK! She even took me with her on her return trip so that I could see where to transfer in Braamfontein. Tomorrow: a new bus adventure begins! And this weekend: no car shopping! I think it was pure divine intervention that we happened to have this conversation on my second day of work, instead of, oh, three months after I'd bought a pricey car that I can't afford and don't want to drive. Thanks, Yara!

She walks hard for the money

Day 1 of the new job! There’s so much to feel excited about: really nice people, a thoughtful orientation, the giddy feeling when people say, “this is Kate, she’s an epidemiologist.” Oh, but then there’s the bad news: I can’t get there.

Yesterday I phoned my buddies at Metrobus and asked them how to get from Killarney to Helen Joseph Hospital. The woman at the call centre told me that there were no buses that could take me. I threw out a few other options, like connecting via Empire Road, and we finally came up with a couple of iffy ideas. The big problem is that I need to go in a southwesterly direction during the morning commute, and northeasterly for the evening, and the system is designed for the opposite direction. I’m literally swimming against the stream.

It probably would have been wise to give the route a test run first, but I didn’t have a chance – fortunately I’d accidentally said I’d be there at 8:30 when I’d actually meant 8:00; turns out I needed every last minute to avoid being late on my first day.

My trip started well by hopping on a southbound #1 bus on Oxford Road. The bus driver had decorated her bus with newspaper clippings of wildlife! Feeling resolute, I exited at Empire Road instead of going all the way to Gandhi Square. Unfortunately, it was further east on Empire – more towards Clarendon – than I wanted, so I had to walk over to the Wits area. This meant navigating the sketchy, tree-lined section of Parktown near that dodgy park. First I encountered a frighteningly friendly woman who started following me after saying hello (good thing I’m a fast walker), and then I was called a “white bitch” by a young man after I didn’t respond to his “hellloooo.” And this was by 7:30!

Still, I was determined to catch a bus near Wits, but kept walking to keep up time. And walking. And walking. Further and further…Yeah, you see where this story is going! Eventually I realized I was going to walk the whole damn way again and reluctantly picked up the pace.

Let me just say that this walk is terrible. Not only is it along noisy major roads (Empire and Kingsway) with a few hold-your-breath-and-run moments, but also most of Kingsway is under construction so that the pavement on each side is completely ripped up to eventually install a pipe or cable. For most of the walk, I was teetering on the curb, as if a balance beam, with a gaping meter-deep ditch to my left and minibus taxis whizzing by to my right. When I finally made it to work, I had to use the serviette from my packed lunch to clean off my filthy dirty feet and shoes before I met my new coworkers! Not a polished start to the new job!!

And guess what I did on the way back? The same. Yep, the old walk-til-the-bus-arrives game that resulted in another 5 miles walked over an hour and 45 minutes. By the time I got home, I was aching and grimy.

There are 2 more work days left to this week. Tomorrow I’m taking an expensive taxi both ways. On Friday I will try one more (quite circuitous) bus option that involves going first to Gandhi Square then catching another bus that goes along Kingsway.

But it’s clear that unless I’m willing to rely on my trusty 10 toes for 10 miles a day, I just can’t get there from here, sadly. So, this weekend...car shopping. I don’t have a clue where to start and I find the very thought completely daunting, but I gotta get to work. To be sure, my pedestrian adventures will continue, but probably (hopefully) not from M-F 8-4:30!