Trying to squish everything that happened into six panels was a challenge. But really, there was a homeless man in a top hat giving out balloon animals to everyone while he lectured us about how to kill rats and a dude totally dope-slapped me upside the head when he lost his balance. And I do mean a full-fledged slap, with all the force that you’d expect from a grown man.
That was the worst fucking bus ride of my life.
Gugh.
I’m so sorry.
I wouldn’t have blamed you if you killed the guy. Accident or not.
Oh the bus stories I have- including getting hit in the face with someone’s muffin top, and many, many other sordid things. People here in LA complain about no public transportation…. obviously they’ve never been on a bus!
Well, hopefully the balloon animal made up for the dope slap. <3
Cannot even get me started on the buses in TULSA. WORST BUS SYSTEM EVAR!!!
Ahh, Tri-Met. Never a dull moment, or smell. Look on the bright side, at least it wasn’t C-Tran.
OH SHIT!
I live in Portland too, and I’ve seen that guy on the bus before.
When I saw him he had on a clown suite and makeup.
I hid in the back of the bus as far from his as possible.
A little girl tried to take a picture of him on her phone, but lost the nerve.
Grrr! I caught up with the archives… must read somthing else til updated!
Aww, I have to admit I giggled at the wonderful “Oof” face.
You always get so much emotion in your comics with those fan-freaking-tastic facial expressions, you’re a superhero!
I’ve read and admired your work for a while, but I had to comment on this one, it’s so true! I live in Portland and use the bus system, and I’ve had to deal with the awkwardness that is the balloon animal man (he’s kind of a staple). My sympathies, totally!
Kinda reminds me of my worst bus trip ever.There was this ‘disturbed’ women on the bus,right behind me,who gave the everyone on it a summary of what she had gone through.At the top of her lungs.Repeating herself over and over.For 3/4 of an hour.To cap it off I jumped off to quickly at my stop and twisted my ankle.What is ir about public transport that seems to attract these sort of situations?
C’mon, what are you complaining about ?
- You got to exercise, running after that bus.
- You got a free balloon dog.
- You got to know the best way to kill a rat. You never know when that might come in use.
Great strip, painful subject (:
Hey, if it makes you feel any better, I once got on a bus and it made such a sharp while I was standing that I made a ballerina twirl and ended up sitting on the knees of a young hassidic guy, to both our embarrassment and all the passengers’ amusement…
The problem with public transportation: The public
Oh god, you just summed up my transportation situation. Damn buses.
Worst bus ride for you, but entertaining for me! Seriously, I knew it was accidentally, but I would have upper cut that dude.
:(
If I had a car, I’d drive you wherever you wanted to go!
Ah, adventures with Tri-met. Bus rides are much always much more interesting than the MAX.
See, I concur with the responses that this was no doubt the worst series of bus-related things ever, but.. at the same time it kind of made me smile that you accepted the obviously crazy homeless man’s balloon animal. Didn’t have to, but ya did.
Oh, bus. It’s like one giant stress test.
Lucky you, I do not have a bike nor the fortitude to walk to Auraria Campus so it looks like the bus for me. But you get to meet all sorts of interesting people.
I love riding the bus D:
Ow. I ride the bus to work every day (a 3 mile drive to the park & ride is better than a 20 mile drive through rush hour traffic) and I’ve never had that bad a day. At least not all at once. Fun on the bus can include:
The occasional person who thinks hygiene is optional is the worst I generally have happen. Although there was that one time I fell asleep and someone cut the bus off in traffic. The driver had to stand on the brakes and I woke up mid-air …
Nice….when’s your next hair cut????
Wow, which route was that? I’ve never had that bad of a time on the bus.
And I just gotta say it, your drawing style is deliciously detailed! It’s so curvy and unique, I just LOVE it! I’m getting your book when I’ve got cash to spare! =)
I know how that is… i hate tri-met so bad! i always get this creepy guy on the 15 belmont in the morning and afternoon. He asked me to take him home one day and kiddnap him… werido.. i have met your balloon man once! he made my day by giving me a flower while I was waiting for the bus.
I’ve seen the balloon guy! Are you riding the 14 bus?
Hey, at least you got a balloon animal out of the whole ordeal!
Oh my sweet angry jeezus! And this is why I’m glad my town offers no type of real “public transportation”….and why i’m glad i own 4 vehicles. The thought of public transportation scares the holyfuck out of me…And this strip definitely reveals why.
Aw, I’m sorry. Looks rough.
Oh that happens to me on a daily basis almost. I ride the bus everyday to classes and..yeah. Oh Philly, how I love your crazy ass.
I used to love the bus on a Saturday night cus Bill, the driver, would throw all the nasty raver tweens out when they were being too rowdy in the back.
Also since Bill would be getting off right when we were getting home we basically got a personal chauffeur back to the house every Saturday XD
idk if it’s a popular train thing but ive had coffee spilled on me and just the day before i read this a man had coffee spilled on him too, one of those days man
that’s gotta suck, being left behind when the driver knows it’s you. at least one would think he does
I totally got punched in the face once when this lady was reaching to grab the handle on the seat in front of me and lost her balance. She didn’t even apologize!
At least you didn’t get hit on by some creepy guy… I’d much rather hear about rat killing than how I have a pretty mouth and can we go out sometime.
just got caught up and I love this friggin’ comic!!
totally should have been doing homework all day, but read this instead. I wish my life was this interesting, then maybe i’d do a journal comic….pure fiction story it is =D
Got ta love Tri-Met.
Absolutely amazing strips. I’ve spent the past 2 days reading everything and laughing loudly. I wish I had read this prior to SPX. Perfect cartooning and an unblinking, wide open and usually hilarious perspective make this a real gem for me. I am only sorry it took me so long to find it (I am always late to the party).
Being a Central european, I always find American bus stories amusing. In a country so much dependent on cars for transportation, it seems only the lowest resort to taking the bus…
Well, at least you got a pretty funny comic out of it… keep up the good work ;-)
So, the green line, right? Since it started running, the MAX has been getting major delays, which meant I was stuck on a motionless train downtown for 15 minutes. The woman next to me in a wheelchair was making these *gargling* noises drinking Crush from a straw, then a toddler started screeeeeeching, which sent this epileptic behind me into a seizure which lasted 3 minutes. I contacted the driver, then started walking.
oh my god public transportation is pretty much a universal language huh?
one time i got hugged by a homeless man on the bus. it was terrible.
didn’t help his homeless roomie kept telling me “he just wants to get into your pants”
i shit you not…
didn’t even want the hug in the first place…
Tragedy!
Bicycles are gifts from the gods.
And are you going to be at APE in San Francisco this year?
I love your comic so much – so many of your strips remind me of me. This one and the bike helmet one in particular XD About a month ago I was on the bus and some drunken hobo started falling out of his seat and grabbed the first thing he could reach to steady himself. Unfortunately, it was my skirt. It fell halfway off my ass in front of everyone.
The wise prophet Darkwing Duck once said that the worse thing about public transportation is the public.
Bus stories! Bus stories!
I often think about compiling all my strangest bus stories and those of my friends…not for any purpose other than to pull it out & read it for my own amusement when I am feeling blue. And also to totally freak out my parents :)
oh man, halfway around the world and i still know exactly what you mean…
couple weeks ago got my car (way, WAY too far and undulating to be a practical cycling commute, and it’s a public transport black spot – there are buses, but…) stuck in the overspill lot at work… it tends to lock up before I leave and I forgot to shift it after the half-dayers went home. had to get bus and train home from there for the first time ever.
…. did not go well. For starters, 90+ minutes to do a typically 25 minute route, aka about 4x longer… money troubles… shifty people all over… cold… long connection delays… all that. There’s a reason cars are popular, I try to tell the workplace environmental committee as they look for alternatives to adding more spaces (oddly, a covered bike lock-up with enough room to park the overflowing forest of cycles we get in summer isn’t one of them).
I think the recommendation some people make is that if you can afford it, you get hold of a second, cheap, tatty-as-anything bike (and I’d still have that over the public transport option even though the travel time’d be the same and the exhaustion more so) and keep it locked somewhere dry and out-of-the-way at whichever end of the route you’re most likely to find yourself bereft. With the key for said lock on your main house keyring of course (if you’ve lost those, you’re likely already calling for backup anyway).
The logistics of getting it to that position, and returning it once the panic is over, are left as exercises for the reader…
i lol’d very very much at this one. And hey, i learned about rat-killin’!