(#22 bus-loop, Rouge Road)  Steve Jobs once said, “It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.”  I tend to agree. So the thought of extracting at least 40 minutes of it twice a day from now until spring is very satisfying. Every year the first snow pushes me off my 28″ bike and onto a #22 bus for daily commutes, my trusty MacBook on my lap (Mr. Jobs would approve). No windshield scraping, no squinting through that narrow slit above the dash with the wipers and defrost on high until I can finally see beyond the hood. No, as I let Transit Tom do the driving, my precious time is much better spent on other things. Read on.

(Portage & Rouge) Email: “Cristy, ETA 50 min.; double-double please, shaken, not stirred”. Send.

(Portage & Westwood) Online carbon savings calculator: I discover that my daily commute alone saves a whopping 93 pounds (40 kilos) of CO2 per week; my little bit to reduce greenhouse gases as I float placidly amid the noise and waste just outside my window.

(Portage & Sturgeon) Fuel savings’ calculator: at $2,259.84 a year (about $200/month), riding #22 saves even more cash than gas! And because my eco-commuting allows us to be a one-car family, the calculator tells me we actually save a total of $7,835.84/year that it would cost us for a second car!

(Portage & Woodhaven) NFL.com: a quick juggle of my Fantasy team, les Princess Poupées, as I move Pierre Thomas to the bench and Pierre Garcon (that’s my boy!) to the line-up. Save.

(Portage & Whytewold) Book time: best of all, I get to catch up on my reading. This week it’s, Creating Time, by Vickie Gray (a rather appropriate fluke), and bliss for my ride’s remaining 20 minutes.

Bottom line: Transit Tom (Tomasina?) offers you a wonderful deal. Commuting by bus is cheap (did you know that EDC staff can buy a monthly bus pass for only $30?), green, relaxing, and satisfyingly liberating, all while opening up a rich vein of precious time.

“The bad news is that time flies. The good news is that you’re the pilot.”
 – Ben Willis, Cashback

“Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.”
– Louis Hector Berlioz

– blog posted from no. 22 (express) on Nov. 22 (now that’s serendipity!)