REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK: What a long strange trip it's been

The story you are about to read is the truth . . . and it's not short. Thursday, September 10. West Philadelphia. After the first day of classes at the University of Pennsylvania, twilight was draped over the city like a wet towel. The night was sultry. You almost needed a meat cleaver to get through the heat. Penn Transit Services would work, too. 7:04 p.m.: Called 898-WALK for a stroll from the Daily Pennsylvanian at 4015 Walnut Street to High Rise South. Told to wait for next available operator. 7:05 p.m.: Operator came through. We asked for a walking escort. "Oh . . . the DP? We'll send a van for you . . . it should be there in 10 to 15 minutes." 7:15 p.m.: Picked up in the X Van, which provides door-to-door service at the discretion of the dispatcher. Asked to show PennCard before getting into van. The driver was Jay. It was his second day on the job. He said he'd picked up seven people so far, but he felt that the number was probably low because classes hadn't started. 7:20 p.m.: Arrived at destination. 8:50 p.m.: Went to wait at transit stop outside of High Rise South for next van. Destination: anywhere. 8:55 p.m.: B Van arrives. The B Van travels around the loop and delivers passengers to anywhere in West Philadelphia except Powelton Village, the driver said. Was asked to show PennCard before getting into van. Five people already on board. Second-year Wharton graduate student David Richards was travelling from the Quad to 45th Street. He said he wasn't totally familiar with the new transit system, but that it had worked well the previous night so he was trying it again. The driver gave us the pseudonym Fred. Fred has been driving Escort since last year, he said. "It's my sense that we're moving fewer people than before," he said, referring to last year, but he said this could be because of the weather. He said drivers were supposed to have learned the new system in a four-hour training session before the semester started. The training session never occurred, and drivers currently work on a question-to-question basis. 9:03 p.m.: Richards arrives at destination after 10 minutes in transit. 9:05 p.m.: Dropped off student at 48th and Windsor. Fred watches to make sure student gets in. "We're supposed to wait until students are in their doors. So I would have done that anyway," said Fred. 9:10 p.m.: Kitten runs across street. Fred stops and lets it cross. 9:15 p.m.: Stops right before Johnson Pavilion transit stop. He sees another B Van, which is supposed to be running 15 minutes ahead of us, pull out from the stop. He must wait for 15 minutes in order to get back on schedule. We get out of the van in a dimly-lit alley near a construction site and walk 100 yards in the dark. We see the glimmer of a blue-light phone off to the side. 9:22 p.m.: Called for walking escort from Johnson Pavilion to 3401 Walnut from phone with escort routes and times clearly posted. Two security guards stood nearby. 9:34 p.m.: Jeff and Nicole, the walking escorts, arrive. They ask for our names, and say they are not supposed to ask for PennCards. We walk up Hamilton Walk to 38th Street, and talk. They say we are their third and fourth walkees of the evening. Two teams are working, they say. Last night, they were the only team and took 13 trips. Both expressed dissatisfaction with people's complaints about the new system. "People feel stupid taking a bus for short distances. For a trip that's a hop, skip and a jump, we'll protect them," Nicole said, and added that if she got on the walkie-talkie, three or four policemen would come on the scene immediately. "Plus, the more people that say Escort is bad, the more people won't use it, and it won't be a safe community at all. So what's the point?" she added. 9:45 p.m.: A huge crack of thunder. 9:50 p.m.: Downpour. "I wouldn't walk anywhere in this," Jeff said. We run across the street to Gimbel Gym's transit stop. One woman is waiting, and there is one unarmed guard. 9:55 p.m.: We tell our escorts that they can go. We will take the transit bus back to the DP. 9:57 p.m.: The Loop shuttle comes. We commence Looping. We go from Gimbel down 38th Street, down Chestnut Street and turn onto 37th. We continue on 36th Street past Kings Court, and back to Chestnut Street. We turn down 34th Street, passing two other Escort vans at 34th and Walnut. We continue to Spruce Street. We then turn onto 38th Street, and back onto Walnut. 10:06 p.m.: Because of the rain, there is an exception made. We are dropped off at 4015 Walnut.

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