Here's Dimitrios' full review:
1. Much more comfortable. People with heavy coats could sit next to each other without squirming and squeezing. Since the 1960s, bus designers seem to assume Americans have shrunk, even though we've all packed on 40-50 pounds of beef.
2. The noise and the stench of diesel was comforting--you felt like you were on a bus, not a shuttle with ion drive and inertial dampeners flying to your nearest zero-sensory Moon spa (not that there's anything wrong with that... IN CALIFORNIA).
3. Other folks on the bus seemed to enjoy it, and the heavy, difficult, completely manual doors actually forced people to interact, as we young 'uns held the doors open for the less able, with giggles and "thank yous" all around.
4. I took off my iPod to take it all in, and then I realized--so had everyone else. I have since made it a point to sometimes go about my daily life without headphones, reserving their use for running and the occasional annoying Wisconsin chick sharing her latest yeast infection adventure on the subway.
An EV Grieve reader also caught the bus. If you'd like a ride, click here to find the Nostalgia Bus at its next stop until December 31.
8 comments:
yeast infection adventure - prompted by cupcakes perhaps?
I'd like to catch one of these buses. I tried the nostalgia train and the best part of the experience was the collective festive mood. If everyone was happy like that every day, it would actually be a fun commute. People weren't afraid to chat with each other...one even asked me where I got my costume...only, I wasn't wearing one. O_o
I want to forget the old buses and trains. The new ones are better. This nostalgia train sucks. Way to go MTA!
If the fare is $.25 I will take it.
"I took off my iPod to take it all in"...wow, what a concept. experiencing your life and environment while it actually happens.
my smelling salts, please....
And you can open the window when it's stinky or the steamed up on a rainy day.
they still have buses like that w/the facing front double seats. i took one 2 yrs ago up madison avenue. & then down fifth. unless this one is different? i do not like to sit in one row facing each other. maybe its so we can see the advertisements?? & as always, someone's in your face! & the fung shui is off. we need to ride in the direction we are going. also this thing about linking two buses together to save $ is disgusting. takes for ever for 50 people to get on & off. try the 14th street crosstown! sometimes i just wait for the single bus on 14th & also down 2nd. bus travel has become an art!!
John M: while I don't disagree with your disparaging remark, let's face it, the New New York is not a reality that you want to experience unfiltered at all times these days.
That's why we all read this blog, isn't it? We don't like what our city has become, or into what it has been converted. I refuse to apologize for using my iPod to block silly, annoying conversations, especially cell phone chatter that belongs in a phone booth or a kitchen.
Kindly avoid generalizations.
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