Riding Transit in Fort Collins

Arrived in Fort Collins three days ago and have been on the go ever since. I’m staying in the Old Town area of FC, so I could be close to town and public transit. I did not rent a car intentionally, so I would be forced to walk and ride the bus. Coming from the Atlanta suburbs where the nearest grocery store and coffee shop is two miles away, this is a dream to walk to the store and downtown shopping areas. Transit is fairly extensive. I took Route 1 on my first day. It goes south on College from the Downtown Transit Center on the north end of town where I am all the way down to Harmony at the south end (a distance of about 5 miles) with stops at the mall, the community college and a major library. There’s a transit center at Colorado State University, too, and I took Bus 19 from there (using my transfer to make the most of my bus ticket, of course!), which took me south on Shields back to the community college. Shields runs parallel to and is west of College by about 10 blocks. CSU is between Shields and College and just southwest of town, but easily within walking distance – for me, at least. I took this route as it is the one to the Senior Center, which I have yet to explore.

The difference in the two bus trips besides the route was the people riding the bus. The bus from CSU was made up of college students who seemed to be going home after classes. We picked up a group of high school boys with skateboards at the stop near the HS. They, too, seemed to be going home. It’s refreshing to see so many young people riding transit. Some had bikes, which they put on the rack at the front of the bus.

The bus down College Ave. from the downtown transit center, which is also the Greyhound Bus depot, had a different group of riders. Many of the people riding the Bus 1 route looked a bit more transient and some, perhaps, even homeless. I’m not sure. Even though I’ve ridden public transit in many different cities, my middle class fear of someone of “this sort” sitting next to me surfaced. I even went so far as to avoid making eye contact with anyone passing the seat next to me, which was occupied by my backpack. I wasn’t about to move that puppy even as the bus took on more and more passengers! Then, I thought about it and realized this is a small negative in the overall positive benefit of public transit. I needed to get over it. I took a deep breath and the next man who got on and walked towards me, I looked square in the eye as I moved my backpack to my lap. He sat down and… nothing.

Why do I admit to my prejudices here? Well, we all have them and if you’re new to public transit, you have to realize that a diverse group of people ride it. So, be prepared. If you’re really worried about it, sit up front near the bus driver instead of in the back of the bus. But, overall, know that the benefits of transit far outweigh any negatives. So, try it in your city. Just get on the bus or train and see where it takes you. If you have access to transit, that is!