I used to ride a bike to work. Now I take a bus. These are my stories.
Riding the bus from work to home in the afternoon is always a treat. I’m tired, have a lot on my mind, and so it’s great to not have to fight LA traffic on the way home. Instead, I can read, listen to music or a podcast, people watch, or, simply fall asleep.
Of these, I fall asleep most often. This is great because by the time I get home, I’ve had an afternoon nap and feel refreshed, ready for all the evening’s activities.
However sleeping on the bus carries its own special risk, namely the risk of sleep terror.
What is sleep terror? Well I’m glad you asked because I’ve become something of an expert on the subject.
Sleep terror is when you fall asleep on a bus that’s not equipped with seat belts. There you are, slumbering peacefully when, for whatever reason, the bus driver taps mildly/slams on the brakes. In an instant, your relaxed body motions forward and your brain -up until this time more preoccupied with fantastic dreams- signals to the rest of your body: “Holy sh*t!!! You’re free-falling! ALARM, ALARM, ALARM! WAKE UP IDIOT! DO SOMETHING!” and you wake up with a jolt of adrenaline amid an overwhelming sensation of terror.
This happens to me several times a week and sometimes two to three times per bus ride. Last night’s incident was the worst, however. Because as my brain was signaling my body that I was free-falling through space and death was imminent, I awoke with must have been a really loud and dramatic inhale such that I startled all the people around me who wisely don’t sleep on the bus. An instant later, a hand reached forward and patted me on the shoulder, and a guy behind me said, “You’re okay man, you’re ok.” Then he chuckled under his breath, the bastard.
Indeed I was ok, but it takes a good 30 seconds to calm down from these scares to resume sleep. Past sleep performance is no guarantor of future sleep performance however, so this terrifying ”OMG I’m falling to my death. Wake up! Oh. I’m on the bus. Go back to sleep” process happens again by the time we’ve reached the Newhall Pass.
So yeah, when people ask me about the benefits and drawbacks of using mass transit, I’ve got one new drawback to mention: sudden terror at 55 mph. But even with these sudden terrifying moments and the savagery of other SCV bus riders, it’s still better than driving.
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