If You Could See It From My Perspective

I had a really interesting chat today with a friend of mine who is from Switzerland, and until recently was working at Pixar. We are relatively new friends, but from what I have gathered, he came to the US for undergrad at Northwestern in Chicago and now works here in Emeryville/greater San Francisco area. The reason why I provide this background this because I asked him if it was strange not seeing the cars that he was familiar with in Switzerland over here. He replied that where he was from not many people drove because gas is so expensive. Also, the public transport was very good. Transport was consistent so it was not a hardship to take public transit. Another comment that I thought was very interesting was that he said that he had a hard time understanding our bus routes. Where he came from the bus ran on a main road, not splitting off. Whenever people talk about public transit, not in that awed tone of "you read public transit!?" that one would reserve for occasions that your companion casually mention that they commute in on a flying unicorn, but in the blasé tone that one would describe the color of oatmeal I often think of Chicago and New York. These are both cities where public transit is woven so seamlessly into the urban fabric that it is truly integrated, not an anomaly like I is in, say, Los Angeles.