So a local news crew was out and about in Gainesville, searching for something to talk about regarding the high price of gas. First stop was the Downtown Bus Terminal, and there I stood smoking a cigarette when this humungous camera gets close enough to poke a hole in my chest.

"So can you tell me if RTS (Regional Transit System) is experiencing an upsurge in ridership?" The diminutive news gal queries.

"I'm not an RTS driver, but from what I've seen ridership is down as per usual for this time of year since the college kids have all gone home."

"So there doesn't appear to be ANY increase in fares?"

"The drivers say no, and this was pretty much to be expected. They don't refer to mass transit in Gainesville as driving the Welfare Wagon for nothing, and anyone with a job or a car would never ride these old dilapidated buses..."

Off goes the camera. Away walks the dejected news gal to stalk someone else, ANYONE else who is at the station because gas prices have forced them away from their precious personal vehicles.

It's true that the town caters to the University, lock stock and barrel, and selects the 'best' buses for campus routes, leaving the 20 year old junkers they've purchased from Miami for the Welfare Wagon rides. Intermittent A/C, squealing brakes, bumpy rides, and the smell? Ha. The smell inside a Gainesville city-route bus is indescribable.

NO ONE with an alternative means of transportation would set foot on a city bus, the price of gas be damned. They're poorly maintained, rarely cleaned, and the passengers make the denizens of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest appear normal. Spitting, snarling, vomitting people of all ages, and the passengers are no great shakes either.