Fun Fact: I’ll be be 24 in less than a month and I still don’t have a license. 🙂

(If you keep up with my blog, you’ll notice that they’ll be a collective of short stories. I love telling stories.)

Truth is, I never really felt the need to have a car thus, never cared to get my license. In high school, I was kind of forced to catch the bus. My oldest sister was the only one with a car but since she worked in Southfield, it was pretty much out of the question of her giving me a ride to school everyday (I lived on the deep east side of the city and went to Cass Tech). So I had to make it work and figure out how to catch the bus. I was going to Cass after all, how hard could it be?

It was awful. My first day of school my sister dropped me off in the morning and I was to take the bus back home. I had already figured out which buses would get me home so I was all set. Cool, perfect. What was not cool, what was not perfect, was the fact that at least 4 full buses past the stop I was at because every kid who went to school in the downtown vicinity was on the bus at this time. Strike one, Kendra. Once I finally got on the bus, I paid extra close attention to where I was going because to be honest, I had no clue where I was going (shameless plug: taking the bus is a really cheap and cool way to see some of the different neighborhoods in Detroit, especially ones with longer routes like Woodward and Grand River). I got to the end of the route thinking that’s where my connector bus would be only to find out that it was not and that I had to take the bus back a couple of blocks to get there. Strike two.

Finally, after being on the bus for an hour, getting lost and finding my way back for a half hour, I get to my last bus stop! Buuuuutttt I missed the bus and had to wait almost an hour for the next bus. Strike three. I finally get on the bus headed home and at this point I’m mentally drained. I was on this bus for another hour and when I finally got near my stop near home I see my dad (awwww) waiting for me and I burst out into tears. From then on, I mastered the bus system and never got lost again. It came to a point where I could figure out how to get to anywhere in the city on the bus. I was like a Public Transportation Guru.

I told that story to say this. For many Detroit citizens, public transportation is a way of life. It is a means to get to work, go to school, go shopping and just over all perform every day errands. Moving back to Detroit, I wasn’t really worried about my lack of “reliable transportation” because the bus system has always been good to me. Granted sometimes they’re a little late or a lot late or super packed but that’s always a factor that you just have to plan for. With my locations for my host company being in Warren and Troy, I realized very early that the almost 2 hour commute to and from work was going to take a toll on me. Luckily, a few weeks ago I discovered/heard about the RelfleX bus route! An answer to my prayers!! This route is so convenient and makes my everyday commute quicker and gives me a way to travel to parts of Metro Detroit that I’ve never been to before. I’m excited to see that the transit system is something that is being considered with a great level of importance as of late and can’t wait to see the future of and learn more about the Regional Transit Authority.

I hope that fellow Detroiters will take the time out to familiarize themselves with the new RefleX route, RTA Master Plan and the importance of reliable and accessible transportation. (another shameless plug to get educated about the RTA http://www.rtamichigan.org/masterplan/ ).