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For no other reason than simply not wanting one, Lan has never pursued a driver’s license.  “I take public transportation by my own choice; I refuse to learn to drive,” Lan explained.

She has always lived in areas where public transportation is available and reliable. Although her mother, Thuan, argues that earning a driver’s license is “one of the learning skills you have to have,”  Lan told me she is “very content” with public transportation. And, when colleagues complain about the traffic congestion they face driving each day, she chuckles and reports, “I don’t have to worry about that. I let someone else carry that worry.”  

Before leaving on our commute, Lan and I chatted while I ate an apple and she prepared her regular egg breakfast. She and her husband Benjamin are expecting their first child in two months, and Lan maintains a strict nutritional regimen.

I learned that Lan was born in Vietnam, and she and her family immigrated to the U.S. when she was 13. A University of Virginia graduate in Nursing now pursuing a Master’s degree in Nursing Administration at George Mason University, Lan says she uses her commute to read books, catch up on work, and talk with other passengers. Riding with her on the RideOn number 12 bus and WMATA’s 63 Metrobus, it’s easy to see that she has plenty of opportunity to chat with others–there was a busful of passengers even at 6:45 in the morning!

Although she has to ride two buses operated by two different transit agencies, our transfer from the 12 to the 63 at Takoma Station was pretty seamless. As you can imagine, after a decade of riding, Lan has the schedule down pat. The 12 was due to arrive at Takoma six minutes before we needed to catch the 63, and that allowed plenty of leeway for us to transfer. Many of the Number 12’s passengers hopped on the Metrorail’s Red Line, while others switched to the many buses that stop at Takoma.

The 63 begins its inbound route at Takoma, so it was not crowded at the start of our ride. Along the way, however, it began to fill up with young children and their parents on the way to school and others on their way to work.

One young girl with a Barbie backpack reviewed her school lunch menu with an accompanying adult. Nearby, a dad with three young children held one daughter who couldn’t stop peppering him with kisses until the bus arrived at their stop and he marched all three kids off to school. And there were other young children, traveling alone, who would seek out and find their friends to sit with as the new school year got underway.

A lot of riders had their heads down, focused on their smartphones–that’s something else they couldn’t do if they were driving.

View full version (transportation.gov): Nurse Lan, on time every time, thanks to transit