All is Fare

A couple of weekends ago I made a trip down to the National Cathedral to take photos -- an incredible place, and a bit of a walk from the closest metro. I'm young and stupid, though, so on the outgoing trip I figured we don't need no stinking buses and walked the distance.

It was about a mile and a half, but I was running late, so in my mind it was a pilgrimage. Plus, how could I possibly get lost?

"Excuse me, sir, which way to the National Cathedral?"

"You see that huge building down the street, towering above everything else, covered in gargoyles and stained glass?"

"Yes sir."

"Ask them."

So I arrived relatively easily, but after a couple of hours of setting up my tripod and tearing it down again, the prospect of walking back uphill to the metro, umm, sucked. So I plopped down at the nearby bus stop and asked an elderly woman how the fare system works.

See, I never take the bus. Not because of any sort of social stigma, I just don't want to take the time to learn how it works. Looking at a bus schedule is like playing sodoku for me -- after a couple of minutes I just wing it and end up ruining the puzzle and arriving two states away from my destination.

The kind woman explained to me that I should've picked up a bus transfer from the metro station (idiot) and that it's good for like two hours (idiot) and I should have a smartrip card (idiot) and of course there's a dollar slot on the bus (idiot). I finally had the info I needed, but you can only take so much emotional abuse from an old lady before you put her under the wheels of the bus.

So I never ended up using the transit system -- the police picked me up for endangering an old woman (transfer that, bus lady) and for theft of a smatrip card (she wasn't going to need it), so after the booking station I got a free ride home. Jokes on you, coppers...I just saved $1.25.