Matt Stumpo photo
Paul Pastor doesn’t commute on the bus — but every now and then he finds himself riding it to escape the stresses of being a student at Southern Connecticut State University.
Pastor, a business management major, just gets on the bus, ends up downtown, and roams around New Haven during long breaks at school. It helps him clear his head.
“I started doing this around sophomore year,” said Pastor, who was waiting at the Fitch Street bus stop for the 1:26 p.m. B1 bus. “I just go on the bus and make my way downtown.”
Pastor is a junior. He has started taking advanced management and accounting classes, dealing with legal issues and corporate finance. Pastor wants to run his own business after he graduates in Spring 2016.
This is the hardest year at Southern so far, Pastor said.
“I knew this year was going to be tough, but I didn’t expect it to be this hard,” said Pastor. “I constantly have homework and then I go to work. I have no free time.”
Pastor did not have a car last year, so he took the bus as a way to get off campus for a while. Even though Pastor now has a car — and commutes from Ansonia to Southern every day — he still takes the bus during long breaks in his school day.
When he first started to get on the bus, Pastor said, he had some trouble reading the schedule, knowing how it works. After the second or third time, Pastor got the hang of it.
“I was confused at first because I did not think it was going to be that hard reading the bus schedule,” said Pastor. “All the times and number of buses were just confusing the first time.”
Pastor said the bus isn’t really crowded when he rides, which he enjoys so he can clear his head for awhile.
When Pastor makes it to his stop downtown, he normally likes to walk around The Green for a while or stop in any of the local restaurants to get food. Sometimes he meets up with his girlfriend.
Once Pastor is done relaxing in New Haven, he gets on the B1 bus and makes it back to Southern to get ready for his next class or to study for countless hours.
“I actually find it quite peaceful down here,” said Pastor. “Just sitting at a bench or something and relaxing really takes my mind off of everything that is going on in school and everything else.”
The CT Bus Diaries project is a collaboration between the New Haven Independent, the Valley Independent Sentinel and students from the multimedia journalism class at Southern Connecticut State University. The students are blogging about experiences on CT Transit’s bus lines in order to give a glimpse into the commutes of the people using the bus system.
Share your CT Transit experiences with us by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) photos or videos to Jodie Mozdzer Gil or tagging #CTBusDiaries on Twitter posts.
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