For the uninitiated, riding a Metro Transit bus can be intimidating and scary. Passengers sit next to strangers of all ages going to all kinds of places for all kinds of reasons.
That's exactly what makes riding the bus fun and cool, said Tane Danger, a frequent bus rider who is best known locally as the improv comedian who founded the Theater of Public Policy.
In his most recent act, Danger has teamed up with Metro Transit to create a new web series, "Hey! Where Does This Bus Go?" to take the mystery out of bus riding, confront biases, and, of course, entice people to ride.
"I recoil at the notion that the only people who take the bus are people who have no other option or no other choice," Danger said.
Danger rode the Route 23H at 7 a.m. on a weekday from Uptown in Minneapolis to Highland Park in St. Paul for the debut episode posted last month at metrotransit.org/where. In the second episode, he took a southbound evening rush hour ride No. 6 from downtown Minneapolis to the Fuddruckers in Richfield.
"Who knew there is a bus that goes to Fuddruckers?" he said.
It's those oddities Danger points out as he chats with teachers, students, professionals and those who take the bus to complete tasks of everyday life. He asks riders why they like the bus, and for levity throws in offbeat questions such as, if their bus route were a hot dish, what kind would it be? He queried a bus driver, wondering if she could use her bus-mounted phone to order pizza. (No.)
He also spoke with one guy who took the No. 6 to a liquor store, and in what Danger described as a "pro-level bus move," the man caught the same bus on its return trip.