Probably the most difficult adjustment I am going to have to make out in Portand (besides the rain, I suppose) is riding the bus.

But, why, Karel? you ask. Didn't you live in NYC and use public transportation for three years? Don't you know the subway system like the back of your hand?

Well, yes. But I rarely rode the bus. For some reason, I find reading bus maps and schedules almost counterintuitive to subways. Is it the fact that they ride aboveground? Maybe. Does it make sense? No. Well, Portland doesn't have a subway. The public transportation system, Trimet, consists of buses, streetcars, and light rails. No underground shenanigans.

As today was sunny, warm, and bright, I decided we should leave the rental car at the hotel and set off on foot, and learn to ride the bus. Not having enough exact change to just hop on the streetcar at Portland State, we headed to Safeway, where I'd read one could buy Trimet tickets.

I tell the guy at the Customer Service counter that I'd like to buy Trimet tickets.

'How would you like to buy them?'
'Erm... I dunno. Do you have passes?'
'We have monthly passes, or single tickets.'
'Single tickets are fine.'
'What zone?'
'Erm... I dunno.'

So the guy directs us to Pioneer Courthouse Square, where there is a Trimet information center that will help us buy tickets, get maps, and learn about zones. We get there and to my dismay, there is no bus map like there is a NYC subway map, that shows you where every stop is, and where there are transfer points. In fact, the bus schedules don't even list every stop, only certain stops along its route.

Is this how NYC bus schedules work too? Notice that I never really knew.

After poring over several schedules and feeling frustrated and grumpy, we finally got on a bus heading to Northwest/Nob Hill. As I sat and stewed over the bus schedule, then pulled out the MAX (light rail) map and schedule, it all made sense to me, like the gears in my brain had finally clicked into place.

And that is how I learned to ride the bus!