Ride On

The name of the county bus system where I live is called Ride On. There are two colors, this green version and a blue and white version. Some operate on natural gas to save the environment. I was on the blue version.

Regardless, we took my car in to the dealer because the irksome "Maint Reqd" red light was on constantly. I was sure all my hoses would disconnect if I didn't pay some attention to the reminder.

So I looked in the owners manual and discovered at 52,500, the owner should change the oil, rotate the tires and do a 27 point inspection for only $128. Sounded like a painless way to clear the irritating reminder that I was perhaps abusing my favorite car.

We left the car Sunday night and sure enough, I got the Monday morning call, we can do all that normal service but your brakes are .2 and other technical jargon. When Neil mentioned the other words asking if discussed, I did recognize others, anyway, $521 later I could pick my car up before 9pm.

But Neil wasn't available so I took Metro to my home station and boarded a bus according to the Ride On trip planner which would get me to my destination in Germantown in one hour. What the map fails to show is the scale and neglects to mention the twenty minute hike from the nearest bus stop to the destination, but I like walking.

My observation: It takes ever so much more time to take public transit than to drive my favorite car, because I was home 15 minutes after leaving the dealer.