My biggest culture shock in moving to Tucson has been the shock of riding the bus...everywhere...for everything, everyday. Tucson is spread out, and despite what the tourist office might say, Tucson is NOT bicyclist/pedestrian friendly. Riding the bus is a hardening experience, and the act of which could easily be made into a top quality video game. A game with a simple premise and many things standing in the way of victory.

First of all, when riding the Tucson SunTran, you need to carefully plan out which route(s) you are going to take to your destination. Forgoing planning = ensuring a later arrival to your destination. Basically, buses run infrequently and it's your job to schedule yourself around this little inconvenience. Example: I live 3.5 miles from my job, but I have to take TWO buses to get there. Including time walking to the bus stop and waiting to transfer to the second bus, it takes me about an hour and fifteen minutes to get to work. Anyway, planning is important, good thing I like to plan. So, I guess in the video game, you'd earn top points for choosing the bus route(s) that (supposedly) will get you there in the shortest amount of time.

I say supposedly, because after planning out your route, you have to actually get to the bus. This could be as easy as walking down to the corner and waiting calmly for the bus to arrive. Or, as is more commonly the case for me, getting to the bus has meant emptying the pockets of every purse and pair of pants to try and find enough change or a spare dollar bill, hastily throwing on my backpack, running half a mile to the Walgreen's to buy a pack of gum in order to get money out because I could not find enough change in said purse/pants pockets, JUST missing the bus because the lady in front of me at Walgreen's just needed to buy cigarettes that weren't currently on the shelf, and waiting thirty minutes for the next bus because the buses don't run very often on Saturdays. Okay, I admit this exact scenario only happened to me one time, but similarly frustrating adventures in getting to the bus happen all too frequently. So, in the video game I suppose you would earn top points for overcoming obstacles and getting to the bus stop on time, even more points for getting to the bus stop with time to spare.

Now, there is the ride itself. The crowd that rides the bus is diverse, to say the least. This is where the true culture shock comes in. In Tucson, if you're riding the bus, it's certainly not because it's the easiest mode of transporation and it's not because you're trying to be eco-friendly. In Tucson, if you're riding the bus it's generally because you're poor. I've been riding the bus for two months now and have yet to find one exceptionally clean, nicely-dressed person. The first two weeks I lived here, I was just in awe. Young, half-dressed mothers shoving McDonald's french fries down their two-year-old's mouth; cracked-out women shouting obscenities at a bus driver who only tried to inform them that their stop was next; a man caked in dirt carrying ten paper-in-plastic grocery bags filled with...well, filled with his life I guess; people going to their jobs but who certainly look like their work clothes could use a could turn in a washing machine. The prevelance of poverty is overwhelming, and for the first couple weeks I could hardly even keep from tearing up, observing my fellow bus riders, wondering what their lives are like. I guess in the video game you'd earn top points for avoiding crackheads and not letting your emotions show.