Riding the Bus

Key West by the docks is mostly bars and shops picking the pockets of the cruise ship crowds. Buying food and water for the next trip requires going to a real grocery store and hauling back a heavy load. Hence my search for the city bus. Seeing a bus proved they exist, but none of the city-sponsored tourist information kiosks had information about the bus. The typical answer from the white, well-dressed, probably volunteer personnel was, " I think there is a bus, but I have never ridden it." Walking a likely street lead to a bus stop with two people waiting. One guy was helpful and spoke English. In ten minutes, a new, biodiesel-powered bus came and I was aboard for a tour. No wonder the middle class knew little of the bus. It stopped at off-beat corners of strip malls and the housing-authority projects -- and English was not in use. The bus system is neatly tailored to the lifestyles of a select group. Shouldn't mass transit serve everybody? Especially the people who are paying for it.