The Chronicles of a Life Spent Waiting for the Bus

When you live off residence, whether you get to class or not is often in the hands of the commuting gods.

I live in Oakville. Recently, while waiting for the bus at 8:30 in the morning, I discovered that Oakville Transit had made some changes to its schedule. I got that panicky feeling you get when you know you’re going to be late and there’s nothing you can do about it. The panic caused me to pluck up the courage to phone a friend, for if I didn’t I knew I would be late. Again.

Silly me. I’d assumed that, since I live only 40 minutes from U of T, I should be able to leave my house two hours ahead of time and be punctual for class. But alas, that morning the commuting gods wanted to teach me another lesson.

Delays and rescheduling are a part of commuting life, no matter how inconvenient they may be. Yet, as for many other commuters, living at home far from campus is a necessary part of our university experience.

In an attempt to properly represent the commuting population, let me explain why we put ourselves through the pain of daily adventure-taking and exhaustive train rides home.

Simply put, money is our driving force. The costs of living downtown, in residence or otherwise, present a fairly sizeable barrier to us.

I would like to give some fancy excuse about how commuting “really is better” and make all you residence kids jealous. However, I have to admit that if it was more affordable, I would live downtown.

Living at home does have some nice benefits. My parents make delicious food; I have a comfortable room; and Oakville is a beautiful place. But despite all the love and comfort of home, I would still prefer to be able to get out of bed and be at school in a matter of minutes — if my budget allowed. But the reality is, Presto expenses included, my yearly costs as a commuter student are far more reasonable than my own year on residence.

My relative proximity to school is what makes commuting justifiable, and by saving a ridiculous amount, post-grad debt will be much easier to handle. Since I do live in the GTA, and the GO is a comfortable invention with cushy seats and a quiet zone on rush hour trains, living at home has balanced my home, school and work environments. This has left me with better grades and more discipline than when I lived on residence. I also have a deeper appreciation of my time on campus.

With all this said, it is imperative that there is an understanding of the struggle.

The struggle: the real reason that I am writing. My experience as a commuter is not necessarily a standard one, but there are a few things that I believe are universal among those of us who live far away.

• Clothing. I cannot tell you how many times I have left my suburban home layered in a raincoat and woolly sweaters, only to find that halfway through the day the sun has decided to come out and play. I am left sweating, fatigued from hauling along all my extra clothes, and stared at for picking such an outrageous outfit.

On the other hand, when autumn begins, I do not have nearly enough layers for the night time chill that settles in after my 8 PM class. I therefore end up running through Queen’s Park with chattering teeth, blue fingers, and longing for comfort from the biting northerly winds.

• Going out. This is one of the hardest things to explain, especially for a GTA commuter like myself. “No, sorry I probably won’t be there. I have no real reason I just have so much work to do and I’m exhausted. Don’t hate me.”

It is not that we don’t want to hang out; it’s that the amount of effort it takes to go out is too much for someone who takes two or more hours of travel time daily. And yes, thank the stars for those of you who have offered your spaces for us to crash, you are all gems and our favourite people!

• Isolation. Not going out with friends or having time to spend at College events leads to an inevitable feeling of isolation. It can be hard to stay in touch with everyone, and hard to be as involved with events. So much depends on your transit times: if you’re stranded downtown after midnight because no Go trains are running anymore, you might think twice before meeting people for drinks at 11. But we do really want to socialize, it’s just not always easy.

• Academic punctuality. By this I mean showing up to class on time, and handing in assignments. Especially for procrastinators like me, it would be awesome to spend the last few hours before an assignment is due working on last-minute changes, rather than waiting for a bus or train. The fun just increases in the winter: public transit plus snow-storm equals disaster.

• Exhaustion. The cumulative effects of the factors above, combined with carrying an extra heavy backpack around all day, leave you absolutely exhausted. And destined to be a hunchback.

All of what has been said has been said in sympathy for the commuter, that elusive figure who is sometimes there and sometimes not. Please remember not to judge the non-res kids that aren’t dressed weather-appropriately, or those commuters who don’t want to party on Thursday nights. Cut some slack for those who need to take a car, train, bus, or plane back to their hometown.

Remember: where your journey ends, in that comfy downtown dorm room, their journey, traversing through time and space to get home, has just begun.