The Bus
(This is one of the articles I wrote for my writing class at BYUH back in 2005, it’s a commentary)
I don’t want to ride on The Bus; but living here in Laie, and especially being an I.W.E.S student, I don’t have a choice. It’s the only public transportation on the island.
I won’t forget my first ride with The Bus. The smell was haunting. Initially, I covered my mouth and nose with my sweater. I tried to endure the stink smell by attempting to sit back, relax and uncover my nose and mouth. To my realization, as I inhale, gradually it just makes me dizzy.
Frankly, I eventually ended up vomiting. The agony of being lightheaded did not end there. The nastiest was the part of actually throwing up. It was the worst ride I ever had — my head’s gone upside down, my intestines’ gone inside out. It’s so hard to bring out things from your stomach, forcibly. Especially when it’s empty. In exaggeration, on the other hand, I always say that every time I hop in the yellow bus, I put my life at stake, for it really felt like I am. I feel like dying when I vomit.
I had couple of instances when I really tried to endure the smell and within the long hours of traveling, the only thing I thought of was the hope and plea to get where I wanted to go as fast as possible, fly out of the bus and throw up. It happened to me several times. I have tried so hard, physically and psychologically, to patiently wait until I hop out the bus. And there I perform the hardest scene.
I know myself; I don’t usually get motion sickness; and I could tolerate motion imbalance when riding a certain vehicle. My throwing up is triggered by the inexplicable smell inside the bus. Ironically, I have an explanation close to reality of how it smells – a burnt rubber or worse.
From then on, I bring with me a bottle of water and oranges. It’s the old Filipino way; and not to forget my plastic bag, like that of Foodland’s. It’s always nice to be prepared. Yes it’s nasty to carry a bag full of, who knows what. But it’s nastier to go around having puke all over your clothes, or worse on your friend’s, or on a stranger’s. I have this experience of having no choice of throwing up on the sweater I was using to cover my nose and mouth with. Nasty, but I can’t tell the bus operator to stop, and I didn’t have a plastic bag with me that time. There was also a time where the bus floor was not spared. I really had no choice. But so far I haven’t puked on someone else, yet. And I’m not anticipating that shameful day.
Some BYU-Hawaii students also have similar horrible experiences traveling with The Bus. Freshman, Joan Diray, a biology student, recently had a nauseating experience going to Kaneohe with approximately an hour of travel.
“I covered my nose and my mouth,” she related. “The smell of the bus is really awful!”
Unfortunately, she was not as prepared as I did before, she gradually felt dizzy and abruptly threw up exactly on the things she bought from Kaneohe, which she laid in between her feet. She threw away some of her new-bought stuffs.
“I haven’t experienced throwing up [before],” she stressed.
Pointing to the fact that she too has no choice but to take The Bus, she added, “Maybe next time I will prepare myself of vomiting. I need to chew something like candy or gum.”
One friend said, “Just the thought of riding the bus, makes me feel like throwing up.” She related, that even before she steps up the bus, the most unwanted thing to happen is already happening in her mind. She’ll have this actual sound of throwing up, with eyes already watery.
Valerie Mejia, a BYUH alumnus said she threw up in the bus many times. “It’s a good thing I carry a plastic bag with me,” she related. “I rarely travel because I really don’t like the air freshener of The Bus.” That is, if you call that air freshener. It’s not freshening at all.
The Bus should sanitize and clean the entirety of the vehicles. Various kinds of people are riding it everyday. People straight from the beaches ride it. Different odors of different people who had different activities are all locked up in the vehicle.
It’s a good thing they took off all the carpets from their bus floors, for as I observed it, it was the main thing that causes the awful smell. I don’t know if they vacuum the carpets; and if they did, it never smelled like it was.
Some people tell me: “you’re just not used to it.” I don’t think this is a matter of not being used to riding The Bus. It’s the smell, the bad odor, and I’ll emphasize that many times. I have been here for almost three years. I still can’t stand it. A more reliable example: one of aunties has been here and riding The Bus for 15 years and she never “got used” with it. She’s blessed to have a car of her own now.
I have families in Waipahu and it’s a two-hour bus travel from Laie. I transfer to one bus to the other. In total, I ride three buses to get to my grandma’s place. If I get more unfortunate, considering the waiting periods for buses to come along, at times it’ll take me three hours to end a considered journey. I visit my family at least once or twice a month. But with this misfortunes and hardships, I limit my visits to once in two months or every after three months sometimes.
Since I basically don’t have a choice but to catch the bus, I have found out a way not to be dizzy while traveling and end up vomiting. Few yards before I hop in the bus, I immediately cover my mouth and nose with a sweater, the most important object to bring. It’s no longer the plastic bag. Traveling from Laie to Waipahu, I consistently cover my nose and mouth. I don’t care if I get stiff neck, cramped hands and shoulders by having one position within that two-hour ride. I don’t care if I don’t have smooth blood flow through my folded arms and neck. I don’t care if people stare at me. Though at times I feel conscious for I know it’s unethical to cover your nose and mouth with people around you, especially with strangers. And people really get uncomfortable and at times offended. I have been questioned few times by some people including the bus operator. But I care less. Their buses stink. All I care for is not to inhale the funk smell of the bus. With that, I won’t get dizzy, I won’t throw up. I really have no choice. I have to ride The Bus.
Later, I’m going to ride The Bus again; let’s see what happens.
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that’s funny. i got a ride The Bus a few times when i was in mililani and kapa’a on kauai. i didn’t smell anything awful though. the air-condition was good. but one thing i noticed with The Bus, at the bus stop the passengers get to sit first before The Bus starts moving. So different from here in the country.
I rode The Bus on my several trips from Honolulu to Laie and back ang going around Oahu island. Fortunately, I didn’t get dizzy. I sometimes enjoyed the rides especially when I looked through the glass windows and feasted on the panoramic sceneries–parks, beaches,huge waves, rocks, trees, mountains,pineapple plantations, the gumamelas (hibiscus)and a lot of things that make Hawaii an island paradise.
Oh perhaps because you were in another island; i was referring to The Bus in Oahu, maybe that makes the difference.
..and you’re indeed correct, you feel totally safe when riding The Bus;
…and they really do give priority to older people and persons with disabilities, they do get special seats…I am also amazed at the first time I get to see a man in a wheelchair who could get to ride a bus…very neat, hi-tech device they got right there in order to transport the man in his wheels!
…and totally no eating inside the bus otherwise you’re kicked out, or you won’t be able to hop in in the first place…;and no talking to the bus operator; i hope that is also how they do it here in the Philippines…
good for you two, you didn’t have anything close to my experiences…and you get to enjoy riding it with Hawaii’s beautiful sights…but I love The Bus, and all the coll things it could do including bus operators…I just don’t love riding it with the smell…
I don’t like it that much…I get so dizzy easily. I just love how detailed The Bus announces its destinations and tourist attractions…. kamehameha highway! Sigh!
I rode the bus a long time ago but I don’t recall about the funky smell inside the bus and that If I felt dizzy or felt sick, maybe because it was such a short ride that I didn’t felt the effect of being sick in the bus. There was another time when I had a chance to ride the bus (because I want to) and I was luckily had a good experienced. I actually enjoyed being in the passenger seat being relax and enjoyed the sight outside the window. I spoted some store that I don’t noticed while I drive my own car. I was also amused how the bus announced the next stop and it shows digitaly in that rectangular box in the upper side corner of the bus. Un lucky for you, you had to suffer riding the Bus.