I had my first ride on Richmond’s public transit system – the GRTC – this morning while working on a story about commuters who save money by choosing to take the bus rather than drive and pay for tolls and parking downtown.

And I have to admit – I was really surprised about the quality of the service. I’ve taken public transit in lots of cities: New York, D.C., San Diego, Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis; but of all those big cities, I’ve yet to ride on a city bus that was clean, didn’t smell and actually made it to it’s destination on time.

So when I was told I would have to ride the GRTC for my assignment – I was a little hesitant.

I got on the Gaskins Express bus on the West End after interviewing riders and shooting some B-roll (background video) of the bus and the people. The bus left promptly at 7:55 and got to my stop downtown, 9th and Broad, before the advertised time of 8:15.

I wasn’t sure whether that was fast or not, because I live near downtown and typically don’t have to deal with incoming traffic, but I felt that I definitely got my $1.75 worth for not having to drive myself and not having to pay for parking downtown.

That’s the last time I stop myself from riding a city bus just because of a couple bad experiences.