Growing up in a small town, there was never any bus service. As you probably have already read with my blog, I like to drive. With that, it has never really crossed my mind to take the bus. While I like to drive, I hate the stop and go traffic and the congestion of the city. Also with my Focus having over 200,000 miles, I want to keep as much wear and tear off of it so it’ll last longer. Obviously, the way to do this is to either walk, bike, or take the bus. Walking works for a certain distance (as well as the Texas heat has a major factor in this), like going to the grocery store, but when there is a Meetup across the city, you have to take the bus.
I have never actually taken a city bus. I have always driven or took a taxi or something other than the bus. My apartment has a ton of bus stops so I decided to give it a try. The nice thing about Austin’s bus system is they have an app that helps plan trips, as well as you can buy your tickets right through the app. All you have to do is activate the ticket a certain way and show the driver as you get on the bus and it acts as your boarding pass.
I purchased my ticket through the app and then planned that I’d take bus 19 and then 21 to the 2600 Meetup on Chicon Street. 2600 is a computer security magazine and they have monthly meetups throughout the world. The Austin one is currently hosted at a coworking space called Chicon Collective.
I walked a little way down the road to 19’s bus stop.