EVEN AT A SO-CALLED BUS STOP, SOCIAL DISTANCE PRACTICED

(Ed.'s Note: Even without a place to sit and rest their tired bodies or any protection from the elements, Brownsville Urban System (BUS) riders wait patiently for the next bus coming own 13th Street near the intersection with Lincoln Street practicing social distancing. Scenes like this - a bus stop marked only by an iron pole and a sign - are all too frequent in this "All-American" city. The man was wearing a bandana and the woman a face mask while they waited.

Riders from populous neighborhoods along the routes must often walk for blocks to their nearest spot and with summer around the corner, temperatures will hover near the 100s. Just a bench - even one made of recycled plastic, if not a shade  or full shelter with - would provide a modest respite.

But if you operate a nice, fancy (and expensive) bicycle for sport, you have at your disposal multi-million bike and bike trails that no one uses in the barrios or just about anywhere else in the city. The city even spent more than $150,000 to inlay some bike lanes with fluorescent pebbles so that the bikers won't lose their way and land in one of the manicured resacas lining the trails. No one can say that our city's priorities are skewered, however.

When bike and hike advocate Commissioner Rose Gowen convinced the city to invest millions into the "active" plan, she said there would be thousands of tourist wanting to come to Browntown and ride their bikes. We, like the bus riders, are still waiting.

And BUS has been promising some type of shelters for riders for years now, and only promise more when the complaints reach the city commission level. Then they hunker down until the complaints die down.)