The Constant Rider

Its 3 stages in total for me to get from the city back to my house on a bus. Well, in between that, Takapuna would be the first main stop, and to get to Takapuna, it’s 2 stages. It’s like the minimum you have to pay if you want to go across Harbor Bridge.
Sometimes, people just pay for the minimum 2 stages although their house is like 5 fucking stages. It’s just a trick to save money because it costs 2.10 dollars to get to Takapuna, and it will cost additional 1.20 for a stage further. Say if you live in Torbay, its five stages, you only have to pay 2 bucks instead of 6. Usually the lucky one got away with it, if the bus driver didn’t bother to check, but last night wasn’t all that lucky for those Korean guys.

When the bus stops at Takapuna, the bus driver suddenly got up from his driver seat and started asking everybody for their bus tickets. I will never get into trouble because I have an All Zone card, which means I can go anywhere in Auckland, on any Stagecoach bus by paying a monthly fare of 128 Dollars.

It’s like totally worth it for me because if I pay the standard fare, I’d pay 3.60 bucks a trip, so two trips a day is

3.60 x 2 x 30days = 216 dollars just to go to city and back home a month.

Then I go to Ponsonby on an almost daily basis
1.50 x 2 x 20days = 60 dollars to go to Ponsonby

I visit my friends at Herne Bay say 10 times a week
1.20 x 2 x 10days = 24 dollars

Total I would’ve spent on bus fare if I paid the standard fare = 300 dollars.

With an all-zone card, 128 dollars a month, I save 172 Dollars. I could get 17 packets of cigarettes with that money!

But anyway, there were two Koreans in the bus who paid for 2 stages. When the bus driver politely asked them to pay if they want to go further, the refused. So the bus driver asked them to get off the bus. But the refused too.

Then the bus driver started to get a little pissed of and said,

“Well, if you two want to go home, you pay your fare, if you don’t just get off the bus NOW. Stop wasting everyone’s time”

“Well… do we have to pay it now?” asked one of them.

“Well, when else do you want to pay. NOW!!”

“Err… We don’t have any more cash”

“I WILL GIVE YOU 5 MINUTES, GET OFF THE BUS AND GET SOME FUCKING CASH OR YOU CAN WALK HOME!” – Actually it’s the last bus of the day.

This is where the problem is – at that time of the night, literally every single shop at Takapuna is closed. The closest ATM machine is like 3 blocks away from the main stop. So the two guys had to run 3 blocks to get the money. It was over 5 minutes when the bus driver started yelling from outside the bus to the guys who were quite some distance away.

“HURRY THE FUCK UP!!!”

The guys were running.

“If you want to go home next time, pay your fare. It’s not fair to everyone else.”

The thing is, why would people do such thing. I mean it’s fucking humiliating. I bet everyone on the bus would be laughing at them. The scene was just fucking ridiculous. At the same time too, I was actually thinking of paying for them, but then I don’t have enough cash on me, so either way, they still had to run to the ATM machine. I just feel bad for those guys being yelled at like that. It’s just embarrassing, but then it’s them to blame because they really should’ve just paid their fare to save them the embarrassment. It’s not the first time I’ve seen people caught red-handed for not paying the right amount of fare, but I’ve never like seen a bus driver like totally lost it and went bezerk. Man he need some sex.

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Speaking of which, this is why I totally love taking the bus, not like I had a choice anyway because bus rides are never boring. There’s always some little drama going on that, on an unconscious level, made my day so much more interesting.

Like there’s a time, I was taking the NightRider* home; there was this drunk guy in the bus. He was like totally stoned, and sitting just in front of him is a Korean lady. Sometime in the ride, the guy starts getting sick and have white stuff flowing out from his mouth. Eventually he got sicker, and literally has stuff SPRAYING out from his mouth. For the record, I am not kidding with the word SPRAYING. And that poor Korean girl, man she’s got the nastiest stuff on her head. It was just so fucking funny. It’s not like I’m mean or anything, I felt bad for the girl, but omg, the way he threw up, I mean literally just spraying out streams of sickness is just so unfuckingbelieveable. I wish I had a phone that can record videos.

Then there’s that time when I was sitting on a bus literally had its tire on fire.

Of course, that time too, when the bus driver beats the shit out of a high school kid.

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Then there she goes. I laid my eyes on her about 2 years ago. I was on my way to the city when she got on the bus at Takapuna. It’s impossible to miss her – she has this kinda of aura that sort of makes your world stops and all you can see is her. She had the nicest complexion I’ve ever seen in my life and her hair is strikingly dark, resting effortlessly on her shoulders. She just got my attention. I don’t know what nationality she is but I think she might be Malaysian, ok, I wished she’s Malaysian. She’s not like pretty pretty type. She’s more like quite and sophisticated type that you could just stare at hours after hours and never get bored. Since that very first time I met saw her, I started to catch the bus at the exact time everyday hoping I’d see her but she’s nowhere to be seen.

But then, one night, weeks after that, I saw her again, on my way home from uni. It was the last bus and she was sitting few seats in-front of me, but kinda on the opposite row, which gave me a prefect view of the side of her face. I just stare at her, her hair, her flowy dark black hair – I just stare the entire ride.

I’ve seen her more often these days; most of the tim es are coincidental. Usually I’d see her on the bus 2 or 3 times a week, always sitting on the same spot. Sometimes I’d see her walking around in the city too. Not that I’m a stalker or anything, but she is just so nice to look at. I mean, it’s a fucking half an hour bus ride, and looking at her made the trip so much shorter. I just want to stare at her – just stare at her.

Gosh, she reminds me of Melissa.

*Nightrider is bus services provided every weekends at 1, 2, 3am especially for fucked-up party goers whos friend can't stay sober enough to drive them home. I sometimes take the NightRider because I can stay at Uni a little longer and still can go home and get some sleep. It's totally cool, but it also can be a nightmare ride. People in the bus are usually inconsiderate drunk fucks.