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If you're reading this (because you're an adult with an email address), it's very possible you abhor the MTA's sluggish bus service.
They're often stuck behind double-parked cars. Nearly half of riders don't bother paying the fare. The MTA's buses are the slowest in the nation. Average bus speeds rarely exceed a laughable 9 mph, and can actually be as low as 4 mph, which is comparable to a person traveling on foot.
For years, I had the same general impression. Then my oldest daughter learned how to talk -- and started begging to ride the bus, anywhere, for no particular reason.
I don't have hard stats or polling data, but I think it's a universal truth that buses excite children. (Even at Disneyworld!) So, during a recent visit to the New York Transit Museum in Downtown Brooklyn, we asked kids a simple question: Why do you all love the bus so much?
Here are some of their responses:
"I like the bus because the train sometimes goes too fast. I like taking the bus because it's at a decent pace," said 9-year-old Maya.
"The train is kind of smelly -- I think buses are more exciting because you're out in the open air," said 10-year-old Naomi.
"I feel a lot cooler [than in a car] because I'm on a big old bus," said 5-year-old Lazlo.
"I always take the seat in the back where it's high up. You can see better, it gives me a little lift, and I like to touch...the yellow string," said 9-year-old Polina.
"You could go through and see all over the place, and have fun while doing it," said 7-year-old Anthony.
Decent pace! Not-as-bad smells! Yellow cords to pull!
Amy Boyle, the museum's Director of Education, said children's fondness for buses also likely stems from the song "Wheels on the Bus," interacting with other passengers and the magic of getting picked up by a massive vehicle and transported to a different part of the city.
"It can feel like time travel," said Boyle. "You're traveling between different worlds."
At a certain age, when bus service becomes an obstacle for commuters, does that enthusiasm die?
Boyle said the transit museum's annual bus festival in Brooklyn not only draws kids clamoring to check out vintage New York City buses -- but also attracts adults lighting up at the sight of buses from their childhood.
"They're able to divorce themselves from the experiences they have in the day-to-day that are frustrating with buses, and get back to that magic," she said.