The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival takes place in Golden Gate park, five miles away from downtown San Francisco. There are only two reasonable ways to get there by public transit: The N trolley arrives three block away on the south side of the park, and then one must walk across half the width of the park; The 5 bus lets you off 50 or so feet from the entrance. The only problem is that the 5 bus is a small bus that doesn't run frequently and is an electric bus making it impossible for those buses to leapfrog each other.
My trip to the event was typical. Hundreds of people wanting to ride a 5 bus that only held 75 or so people, half of those crammed like sardines but vertical. But what made this bus ride not just tolerable but enjoyable was the bus driver. He stopped at every stop, even if there appeared to be no room and somehow made room by standing and waving his hands and cheerfully guiding everyone onto the bus.
When the bus finally reached 30th Avenue, everyone getting off the bus shouted a cheerful thank you to the the driver. On that day, at lease, he was the best bus driver ever.
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