Time Travelling, and Gaming the Bus... in Roundtrip Ticket to Paradise 2

Several years ago, I picked up a woman in the taxi at Freddy’s West. She wanted to go to the downtown Transit Center (aka Transit Park or T-Park). On the way I found out she was trying to catch the last Green Line bus to North Pole (a spendy taxi ride). I keep a copy of every bus route schedule here in Fairbanks with me, so at a red light I pulled out the Green Line schedule.

It turned out that the connection would be rather tight, if indeed we even made it. So I said to her, “It’s going to be real iffy to get to the Transit Park in time for the Green Line. Want to do some time travelling?” She looked at me a little askance and asked, “How so?” I replied, “Instead of going to the Transit Park and maybe missing your bus, we can step about five minutes into the future by turning south on Cushman Street and stopping at Prospector Outfitters. There’s a bus stop there, and about five minutes later the Green Line will come by. Same cost, or maybe a little cheaper.” She agreed, we did, and she made her bus just fine.

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Leaving Freddy’s West to go to UAF’s Wood Center Bus Stop (where I disembark to go to the UAF library, where I am now), the obvious route is the Red Line. It runs, generally, once an hour, and there’s been a few times I’ve missed it. The Yellow Line leaves from the same bus stop at Freddy’s, in the afternoons at the same time, goes to the airport, then passes Freddy’s without stopping and goes to the Wood Center Bus Stop.

The “save” there is that, going northbound on University Ave from the immediate area of Freddy’s at the intersection of University and Airport Way, the two routes parallel each other. So, heading to UAF, I just miss both the Red and Yellow which left Freddy’s at the same time. If I cross University and Airport and walk a block north to the first bus stop, about 13 or 14 minutes after the Red Line passed there, along will come the Yellow Line. Non-obvious… but it’s there. I am amazed by how many people don’t notice that, instead cursing their luck about having to wait an hour for the next Red Line.