Thomas MacMillan Photo
The beauty of the open road: Trash trucks … rain …
The Independent’s commuter diarists aren’t complaining, exactly. At least not for the most part.
It’s just that, on their ways home Tuesday and into work Wednesday, they did note that their preferred modes of transportation do occasionally have their downsides.
And their upsides — like noticing “stunning” trees that weather tropical storms.
Commuters have been keeping diaries this week of their travels to and from the city for work — whether by car, by train, by bus, or on two wheels. Read on for their latest dispatches from the road.
The Wednesday Bummer
By Lisa Hodermarsky
Hodermarsky commutes from Westville to the Yale Art Gallery on a yellow motorized 50cc 2004 Honda Metropolitan scooter.
So, I’ve been writing in this diary about some of the great, unique things about riding a scooter. But there are a few bad things. Like Wednesdays.
Wednesday is garbage collection day on Edgewood Avenue (my commute). And if you think it’s bad being stuck behind a garbage truck in a car, believe me, the eau de parfum of riding en plein air behind one is a truly eye-watering experience. Not to mention negotiating around the trail of slime that spews out of the truck’s behind(!), which anthropomorphizes it into a gigantic slug-like creature. Today, luckily, I came into work a bit later than usual, so was spared the truck (but not the lingering odors, or slime trail). Lovely.
I’ve tried to think of alternative routes into town — but the truth is, there really isn’t a practical one. Both Elm and Chapel are largely one-way going west — out of town. And Whalley and Frontage are almost highways — to be avoided if possible. So, I’m left with Edgewood, and Wednesdays.
A Tempting Diversion
By Michael Sernyak
Sernyak (pictured) commutes by bike from Branford to his job running New Haven’s Connecticut Mental Health Center.
Today I took the short way into New Haven from Branford passing through East Haven. Although this morning started out looking like rain, it was dry all the way in and a pleasant temperature. As I was enjoying the ride through the Annex, I came across Yelle. As a full-time bike racer (and part-time student) he was headed out on one of his epic 6 hour rides, no doubt. Seemed like it would be fun, but I had to go to work. Maybe some other day, and I can always take the long way home tonight.
Splash!
By Laurie Hasselmann
Hasselmann commutes partly by car, partly by bike from North Madison to the Yale College Publications office.
I asked for it: I bragged about how much fun my morning commute was, so the bicycling gods punished me this evening. Steve’s knee started acting up (could it be because of his altercation with a car door on Grand Avenue last week?), so I biked home this evening and he drove. Showers, wet pavement, headwind, red lights all the way. Still, it was better than fighting traffic in a car. When long lines of cars stopped for red lights on Rte. 80, I zoomed past on the shoulder.
I don’t really mind riding in the rain. I use a big heavy touring bike that is steady even on wet roads. What I do mind is the rain kicking up dirt and grit onto the bike and into the chain, so that I have to wash and lube it afterward. But today could have been worse: at least I didn’t have to peel mangled worm carcasses off the bike, as I do when I ride in the morning after an all-night rain.
I am looking forward to riding again tomorrow.
Hey! The Trees Made It!
By Trip Kirkpatrick
Trip Kirkpatrick usually takes the J bus from Hamden’s Spring Glen neighborhood to a job at Yale as an instructional technologist.
Possibly the best thing about taking the bus is the ability to just sit and watch the scenery. I don’t do this all the time, but some days it just works out that doing that is the only thing I can do or the best thing I can do. Today I rode a bike in but left it downtown so I can take it to Devil’s Gear tomorrow for some minor repairs, so I didn’t have my usual satchel and hence didn’t have the book I’m reading. There’s also the fact that I’m doing this commuter diary, so it occurred to me that it would be a good day to see what I can see.
In New Haven, we were uncomfortably close behind a cyclist on Whitney Avenue, but I found myself empathizing with both the bus driver and the cyclist. I’ve ridden Whitney, and it’s this kind of thing that I hate about doing it. (That, and the potholes.) The drivers don’t tend to give you the consideration you deserve. On the other hand, the driver has a job to do, and riders to pick up down the line who don’t care why the bus is late. To boot, this cyclist was not going as fast as she could (I don’t think, but I shouldn’t make unfounded judgments), when one of the things about riding on Whitney is that you should ride at your top speed out of concern for your own life, as well as mutual courtesy with the drivers.
Something I’ve never specifically noticed before, but did today, were the truly gorgeous oak trees in some places along Whitney. Across from Hamden Hall and then again at the Whitneyville UCC, there were a couple of real stunners. My guess is that they are 100+ years old, and I’m glad to see they weathered last year’s storms. It seems like trees aren’t getting replaced when storms take them out.
Crossing Whitney Avenue in Spring Glen (but not in the center of town) reminds me of just how unfriendly to pedestrians certain parts of our otherwise-friendly neighborhood are. The nominal speed limit is 30, but it sure seems to me like the actual traffic flow is more like 40+. I’m almost obnoxious about cruising very close to the speed limit, and when I’m driving 35 there are people who pass me like I’m sitting still. It’s a shame, really, because it means that the road divides a neighborhood and means that children with friends across the raging river probably end up being driven to see those friends for far too long.
Previous “Commuter Diary” installments:
I agree that Whitney through Spring Glen is a disaster. Enormous disincentive against moving to what is otherwise a pleasant neighborhood.