A Love Letter to Public Transit

Published on February 14, 2024

by Natalie Bouchard
Communications Division

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? No. I shall compare thee to a car. To a highway. To rising gas prices and vastly expanding interstates.

You are more elegant, more robust, more helpful. Your tracks, the refined and steady winding metals, lead to my favorite places. Your routes, how they meander down, through Uptown and around.

You welcome us with open seats, you shield us from the distress of Charlotte traffic jams. I do not envy those gripping their steering wheels, with no companionship in their vehicle, heart rates elevating not out of love or excitement, but out of outrage at another Nissan Altima.

Aboard your tidy vessel I see those that take this journey with me, and I do not feel so alone in this city, in this world, in this universe.

I feel my fellow passengers sigh of relief when they board the way I feel the first day of Spring. I welcome it. And just like Spring, even the birds breathe better with you around.

You are more than a ride to my destination. You are the chance encounters, the “Pardon me, miss” and the quick study session on the way to class. You are the friendly wave, the easy drop off and the melodic “ding” at the end of my journey. You are the smooth preamble to a day unbound by traffic and carbon emissions.

Oh, public transit, every stop has a story. Thank you for moving us along. 

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