darn busses

Been a while since I took the bus regularly. When I worked downtown, or close to downtown; I used to commute daily by bus. It allowed us to only have 1 car, with one salary a mortgage and other household expenses, there was no way I could afford to run two cars. So, I took the bus daily to and from work.
Yesterday, the kids wanted to do the Skytrain. So we decided to head out to the pool via Skytrain and bus. This was all great, I checked on the transit web-site for the best routes, and distances, to make sure we were not walking great distances, and everything was a go. I bought some of the single-use tickets, and brought the books just in case.
We headed out. Well.....the instructions given to me were not correct, at least to where I was going. Unfortunately, there were two places named the same, and I did not clue in to the differences, so we took the wrong bus. When I figured it out, we hopped off and I re-checked the map and found the correct route and bus we should have taken. So, we lost quite a bit of time and did not get to the pool for a long time. This kinda changed my plans a little, so we ate dinner out before heading back home.
I think taking the bus is a mindset. You get used to adapting, and knowing what works and what does not. When I used to commute daily, I used to know when I had to make a mad-dash for the bus, or when I had time. With kids in tow, this is not quite as easy. Kudos to those people who manage without a car, and go everywhere and do everything by bus. It takes some doing, and you defintely get used to having a car.
If it was not so expensive, I might be inclined to take the bus to work. I do not live that far from work, but the way that the system is structured here, it is multiple zones, meaning my costs go up significantly. I also use my car after work. However, in the winter maybe I will consider it. I really does not lower my costs at all, the car insurance is about the same, and there is not significant wear and tear on the car with my commute, but it would be a good move overall.

I am not sure what we are up to today. I need to pick up some things for the week ahead, so we will have to hit a store today. Try and link that in with something fun. We have had a couple of late nights, so tonight has to be an early one. Tomorrow the kids are in daycamps, so they need some rest. Unfortunately, they are predicting showers for tomorrow and the rest of the week. Not sure what alternate plans the daycamps have, but they are well setup for this sort of thing and I am sure the the kids will arrive home tired and happy by the end of the day.