Gas Prices Got Me Back on the Bus
Story by Thuy Ngo

The price of gas these days are just too much for me to handle, a whopping $3.00 per gallon where I live. I have had my license for close to two years now, finally bought a car, and now, I can't drive it. My mom thinks that I am crazy for taking the bus everyday, especially since I can finally drive. I figure the money I would spend on gas could just go to my groceries. I did a short calculation of what my gas tank might add up to.

Each week, I would use approximately $20 to $30 worth of gas. Estimated to a month, that is about $90 to $135 dollars. My friend drives a mini van and averages $45 a week, and that is if he watches his driving. Even though this is considered a reasonable price to others to pay, I still find that cannot afford it. And then there is the issue of parking, which I just cannot seem to do right.  Parking on its own is about $192 at San Jose State University, where I go to school.  If I were to park at the meter or the other garages, the price would land out farther more than parking at San Jose State University.  Parking in the garages average $6 a day, and for a month, it is $180, which after a little more than two months would be more than parking at the university. Plus, I tend to park lopsided so can you imagine the parking tickets?
 
At first getting a car and my license meant the world to me. Getting a car meant this great transition to adulthood where I no longer needed my parents to take me around. This new boon in my life meant that I no longer needed them to worry where I was at night, and whether I needed a ride from and/or to class. The reason that they would worry was because I took night classes located downtown. I would also worry about how to get home sometimes at night because sometimes I would wait for what seemed like an hour or two and the bus still was not there. It meant more so to get a car because I felt this was a step towards personal freedom. Having a car meant I could go new places off the bus route whenever I wanted to.
 
Before I got my ride, I would fantasize what kind of car I would be able to get. I checked the newspapers every week for months. I went to a dealership for pricings, but then realizing I could not afford the cars at the dealerships, I went home. I checked the Blue Book pricing to make sure the worth of each car. I went from place to place and found nothing. Everything inside my budget was either beyond repair or too far from what I could purchase. Eventually, I was lucky because we have a family friend who is a mechanic. He bought a used car, fixed it up and sold it to me for a great price. I know nothing about cars, so I was grateful for all his services. I still have not had a problem with the car yet -- a white 1991 Toyota Corolla DX.
  
The sad part is that I worked so hard to get a car that now just sits on my driveway. Having little or close to no money, it was a challenge trying to get car. Now that I am back on the bus because of gas prices, I found that those prices have gone up too. Today an adult day pass on the bus costs $5.25. This is compared to $1.75 from a few years back.  
 
If gas prices were to go down, I would be more inclined to drive. But for now, I am just trying to make peace with the bus system, even if the prices are high. Taking the bus is pretty relaxing if you do not have to go anywhere in a hurry. Plus, even if I do not always talk to everyone on the bus, I feel the sense the community as a whole.  Driving is more of an individual action where I find myself alone.   And if gas prices keep rising, I might be seeing my community of bus riders getting bigger.