5:09 p.m. – I arrive at the bus stop. I spot my fellow bus rider, Bus Girl.
5:11 p.m. – Bus Buddy comes out of his building. He waves at me and continues to chat with his coworker.
5:20 p.m. – Bus Buddy comes over to sit with me after his friend got on her bus. It’s past 5:15. The bus is indeed late. But it’s been late like this before. So we continue to chat.
The MTA 460 Disneyland, the alternative bus to get us the closest to our area, comes and leaves. Bus Buddy starts to think that maybe he should’ve caught that one. But, nah. We have faith in the 701.
5:45 p.m. – Now this is getting unsual. The Bus Girl dials OCTA to ask what is going on. In the meantime, OCTA 721 Fullerton shows up. We all poke our heads in to ask the driver what was going on. The 701 is broken down, we are told. “They’re sending another one.”
Bus Girl is still on the phone, and the operator tells her “they’re TRYING to send another bus”. What does that mean? Is the bus on the way, or should we go take something else? No clear answer there. Some other fellow riders go off to catch the Blue Line. Bus Buddy says that the next MTA 460 is coming up in another 10 minutes. As Plan B, he offers to give everyone a ride back to Los Alamitos, where I parked my car, if we wanted to hop on the MTA 460. That sounds great.
6:00 p.m. – MTA 460 which runs every 30 minutes has not arrived. Plan C is quickly put into place. We all go down to Long Beach and Brandon will take us all back to Los Alamitos.
6:15 p.m. – Another call is placed to OCTA. We are informed that there is a 701 replacement bus coming in 10 minutes. I cancel Plan C with Brandon.
6:25 p.m. – We see another 720 bus coming around the corner and no sign of 701. The MTA 460 pulls up. We follow Bus Buddy onto the bus. Plan B is better than Plan A at this point.
6:40 p.m. – As our bus is on its way to the 110, the 721 catches up with us. I spotted Bill of the Bus on the other bus! Could the 721 be the 701 pick up? Will that bus get us home? We can all get off the 460 at the next stop and get on the 721 if that is the case because our bus is ahead. If we can get a hold of Bill of the Bus and confirm that that is the case.
Bill never answers the phone.
7:10 p.m. – We arrive at the end of the Green Line. Bus Buddy’s wife drive all of us back to Los Alamitos.
7:30 p.m. – I get in my car (Oh yeah I was late this morning so I had to drive to my bus stop. Sad, huh?) and head to Paul’s Place to pick up dinner and head home.