Syracuse, Day 1 (April 2, 2008)

Current mood: enlightened

I won’t go into why I ended up rather suddenly in metro Syracuse, New York. Not permanently, either, just a couple of days, I think. But one morning the Zipcodes started with 152-, and by nightfall they were 132-.

It’s funny sometimes how fate works. I need to get right into Downtown Syracuse in a couple of hours. I’ve been in Downtown Syracuse maybe twice in my life, and not within the last 25 years. It would be really, really nice to be able to get there by public transit, wouldn’t it? Well, guess what! There’s a Park & Ride lot right outside the motel! As in adjacent to the parking lot! It’s actually closer to get to the bus stop from my hotel room than it is to get to my car in my own driveway from my bedroom at home! It’s also cheap! The full-fare round trip (2x$1.25 for Zone 2) would cost less than a one-way fare in Pittsburgh ($2.60 for Zone 2).

Of course, transit is useless if you don’t know how to use it, and not surprisingly, it is not real obvious how you might. I figured it out, but only because I wanted to, and only with the help of a transit-knowledgeable night clerk here at the motel. Sure, getting Downtown is fairly easy, but getting to a specific spot Downtown is something else altogether. It isn’t that small a town, and it isn’t level. She knew the connections and how they worked.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every hotel desk clerk in the country knew how to use the area’s bus system!