Why riding the bus can be a pleasure

Robert L. Candiotti, Las Vegas

Tuesday, May 13, 2008 | 2:01 a.m.

It came to me Sunday morning. It is a realization I cannot deny. And I’m willing to go public with my thoughts.

I really enjoy riding the Citizens Area Transit 109 bus.

The 109 is the around-the-clock CAT bus route that runs north-south on Maryland Parkway, going all the way from the Downtown Transportation Center to the South Strip Transfer Terminal. Significantly, it has stops at UNLV and McCarran International Airport and runs along a lifeblood transportation artery in the body of Las Vegas. During most hours, it has departures every 15 or 20 minutes.

I see that the 109 bus riders are not only people going north and south, but also up and down: Evident are currently successful people and down-on-their-luck people, academics and alcoholics, the lucid and the incoherent, the brilliant and the burned out.

The CAT 109 provides a tableau of people in Las Vegas. To me, getting a broad picture of the local populace is actually a soothing thing.

The 109 runs parallel to the Strip. I say it runs along a parallel universe. Both universes — the Strip and Maryland Parkway — are valid, I think, and both get my time. If you do not know both universes, you do not really know Las Vegas.

The 109 helps tune up my affection for humanity. I see gentleness and courtesy on the route all the time. Even when a bus is crowded, when a woman gets on with an infant, seats are instantaneously and voluntarily cleared for mother and child. Anyone with a big ego is out of place. Anyone with real compassion can feel at home. Anyone who rides with open eyes and ears can recognize the 109 as a microcosm of Las Vegas.

Perhaps the 109 is not for everyone, but I definitely think it is for those who do not shrink from the opportunity to be face to face with the full humanity of this city.