The bus stop shuffle I learned the hard way in Denver

I used to wait at the same bus stop downtown every morning near 16th Street Mall. But three weeks ago, I watched a guy walk half a block further and catch the same bus with open seats while my stop had 15 people crammed in. Turns out the bus fills up at the previous stop and by the time it reaches mine, it's packed. Now I walk two blocks back to catch it earlier and I always get a seat. Has anyone else found a trick like this for your bus line?

3 comments

3 Comments

robertb4725d ago

Yep, you ever notice how the bus drivers will actually tip you off if you’re friendly with them? I had one driver in my old city who’d slow down and wave me over to a spot half a block early if he saw me coming, saved me a whole walk to the official stop. The real trick for my line was timing it so I caught the bus just after the school let out, because that extra crowd meant I’d be standing if I didn’t plan ahead. You gotta learn those little windows, cause the schedule never tells you that the bus runs ten minutes late after the high school empties out. It’s like the whole system has its own hidden rhythm that only clicks after you mess up a few times.

alice26925d ago

Dead on. Once you figure out the flow of a route it changes everything. On my line the trick is getting on three stops before the main transfer point, otherwise you're standing the whole way. The drivers know too, they'll pull over early if they see regulars waiting.

the_lucas25d ago

Yep, "three stops before the main transfer point" is the kind of trick you can't learn from a schedule or app. Isn't it funny how most of the real shortcuts in life don't come from official instructions? Like I've noticed this pattern where the people who've been doing something for years have this silent knowledge that nobody writes down. It's the same with parking lots, grocery store layouts, even traffic patterns. You just have to get your reps in and eventually you start seeing the seams that aren't on any map. Makes you wonder how much other invisible wisdom is floating around that nobody bothers to explain.