Hooray for the Buses (36 Teresita)

Hooray for the Buses (36 Teresita)


“Hooray for the Buses” was the title of a flyer the Miraloma Park Improvement Club distributed in advance of the opening of a new bus line in the neighborhood.


Your first inbound stop

is the same first stop

for inbound babies

at St Luke's Maternity ward.

Same terminal transfer point to under hill

as folks outbound at Laguna Honda too.


Your first operator was the Mayor

and your inauguration followed

in the wake of a marching

Drum Corps, Bugle Corps,

Parkside Post Legion plus the Municipal Band

and a bicycle parade.


A panoramic drive,

sometimes Sutro fills your windscreen,

a city view, a sea view, a sky view,

cross over Portola, snake

along your namesake street

or in daylight climb a prominent spur.


Teresita you keep secrets too,

an old name and an old number,

a secret stop you almost always skip.

In eighty years what whispers

have you heard but buried

under a blanket of fog?


Ply the highest prominences of the City,

Twin Peaks and Mount Davidson and Mount Sutro.

Serve spectacular scenes but also

connect neighborhoods and

humbly serve daily passengers,

commuters still need to get to work.


A young boy might be riding to school,

An elder may need to get to the doctor,

A pilgrim may need to get to the cross,

A wedding party is going to the conservatory,

be right on time for their transfers!

This is not your last stop.