Riverside Transit

Guy in hooded jacket in the sweltering heat of California summer




Almost empty bus seats









At last Ade and I found a busline that covers some main thoroughfares in Moreno Valley - the Riverside Transit.

At first glance, the streets of Moreno V. seemed never to have experienced public transportation becoz as wont to be, suburbia people go around in their own cars. But since I was so in dire need to get around this place, and also becoz I do not have my own car, I called up the city hall and found something about this obscure transpo.

Learning about the schedule, the bus (one for every main street) comes around after every hour at designated bus stops, a kilometer apart. A ride costs a dollar and 25 cents and 60 cents for seniors. One has to pay an exact fare coz you'll never get some change for your $2 or more. The nearest bus stop to our place is also a kilometer away, and to get there one has to trek Nason street amidst empty open spaces under a heat wave with fierce winds blowing. What a sight I might have been with my umbrella being shaken and the muscles of my legs getting almost numb (galit na galit na yung mga muscle sa legs ko).

Unlike the buses of Metro Manila, the Riverside Transit has so few customers. One can even walk or dance along the aisle without disturbing anyone. And most of the passengers belong to the minority groups around Southern California... Hispanics, Africans, Asians (like me) and poor Caucasians (weirdos, hip-hops, crackpots) who are probably jobless too like me and yes, who are most likely of my kind, (hehehe). One big white guy walked down the aisle greeting everyone in the vehicle "a good day," at the same time hopping in his worn-out rubber shoes. Bob Dylan's Mr. Bojangles suddenly came into my head with his "clicking heels." Then another Hispanic guy boarded the bus in a thick trench coat amid the sweltering heat at 92 degrees, complete with dark glasses and an armful of books.

I could not help but smile at all these little people of this huge country where all the people seem to be so fast and furious to make it big. These small guys who go about unnoticed in the streets are the same people who brought this country into being... Martin Luther King, James Baldwin, the black runners, jumpers, etc. who garnered golds during the recently concluded Beijing games...and maybe, including the black presidentiable.