Cabs that never come...

Lots have gone on in this month. School, wedding, spring break...

I went to New York for spring break. I went there for sightseeing last year, but this time was for mission project. We helped the churches in Long Island to reach out local neighborhoods. BCM team left Birmingham on a bus on 16th in Friday evening and arrived there next day. I had to stay in Alabama for my friend's wedding in Gadsden. My plan was to come back to Birmingham after the wedding, then pack, and leave my car at BCM, take a cab to Greyhound station since all my friends were already gone to New York. Greyhound was to take me to Atlanta overnight, and I was going to take a plane to New York.

Plans don't go as it's supposed to sometimes. What happened was that the cab didn't show up to pick me up. My bus was to depart at 3:20 a.m. I read reviews that the cabs often delay so I was at BCM by 12:30 a.m. I called them and waited for them. At 3:00 a.m. I decided to drive to the station. I was not familiar with parking deck around the station and the area was sketchy at night. So, instead of walking several sketchy blocks at night, I parked at the station, hoping they wouldn't tow my car (which ended up being towed...)

Bus delayed for about an hour. But rest of trip was smooth. It was interesting too. In Birmingham, there is no other good way than driving to get from point A to B. Even taxi cabs don't pick you up. In Atlanta, you may have to drive a little bit, but there are subways and buses. If you want to avoid getting lost or stuck in traffic, you park your car at subway station and get on subway. In New York, you definitely take subways and commuter rails. Everything is close and driving is for getting to train station and for shopping if you live in suburb.

It was like looking at each step of city development. Birmingham is well-behind of Atlanta and New York. Atlanta is still dependent on cars, but they have subways and buses. So you don't have to drive on complex roads in the downtown. New York has fully developed subway network.

While in New York, I walked a lot. We walked around neighborhood handing out fliers about Easter service to houses. I hope this mission work have big impact on these neighborhoods.

On Thursday, we had a free day in Manhattan. We took Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty, walked around Freedom Tower (9-11 site). M&M Shop and Hershey's Store were fun. My favorite was UNIQLO near Empire State Building. The saddest part was that Yoshinoya restaurant was closed.... At the end, we went to the Phantom of Opera.

After the show, we took train to Newark Penn Station to meet up with our bus. We came back to Birmingham around 4 on the next day. I had a friend to drive to bus station, then to a towing service after finding out my car was towed. I'm so thankful of those wonderful friends.

One thing that I just can't help saying... I just don't understand why Birmingham stays behind like this. There is practically no alternative to driving. Traffic and road condition have been terrible. But they just stay in the same place. There has been complain about transportation, but nothing changes. Bus doesn't serve public adequately, so people drive. There is no room for extra lane on freeways, but they don't take a step toward effective mass transit. The city is stuck behind even when there needs to be improvement somewhere... It's strange to see the city seemingly doesn't even try to go forward.