sardine -- post city tour

Break out the barf bags!

Why would anyone want a bus station to resemble a roller coaster ride or waves? I don’t think the architect or the city planners have ever ridden the bus. Have they ever talked to people who run and clean the rides at Disney? On their last Caribbean cruise, were they wearing patches behind their ears?

I am one who didn’t learn to drive a car until I moved here. In all the places I lived before, I took whatever public transportation was available-- trains, trams, buses, etc. Or I walked (amazing concept), rode a bike without fearing for life, or mooched a ride.
Orlando is a city of missing side walks, suicidal bicycle lanes, and a scarcity of public transportation. Everything is half an hour away by car.

As anyone who has ever ridden the bus knows, bus riding is not a pleasant experience. Ride the bus in summer or in Florida, and hope the air conditioning doesn’t quit. Or just hope for a bus with open windows. Hope the smell isn’t as bad as the last time: a smell that combines sweat, urine, vomit, bleeding gums, feces, cheap perfume, coffee, and rotting food. Hope the bus was sluiced out the night before, rinsing away the sticky and the disgusting. Hope the air freshener is not one that will leave you crying. And then… there is the general hope of hoping for a seat. The bus stops are another nightmare. Is this the day to get mugged? Is that homeless person dead? How did that shopping cart get there?

The Powers That Be have built an edifice to market an inadequate public transportation system. The smug postmodernity of the building’s style deflects the economic issue. Public transportation is a need for those without cars, money, and power. It is a need for those who are easily dismissed, cut out of the budget, and forgotten. This nauseous Thing is another gimmick to sell what is absent and effaced.