Once my manly digital camera is repaired, I hope to catch a picture of a bus.

Yes, of a plain mass transit bus, preferably the rear quarter, preferably just after it’s taken off after ingesting a few passengers. I want to be reminded of my view today of one such beast, belching a ghastly black cloud of exhaust.

I find the image interesting for the following reason. The diesel buses used in Toronto all have their exhaust pipes upen upward, located in the top left rear corner, cleverly blended in with black painted grilles. It is a spot that I have no doubt is designed to be nearly invisible to the casual bus rider. Such a rider would normally see the front and right sides of the bus, If she happened to be specifically looking for the tail pipe at the usual spots, the lower rear left or right, she will not see it. She can this way snicker smugly when seeing a car or truck make plumes of gunk: she’s so much better than they are.

It is much easier to cast the car vs. mass transit issue as a simple hollywood-style good vs. evil question, than a complex quantitative one involving time, money, convenience, safety, and fuel consumption trade-offs. I think the placement of bus tailpipes is part of the political marketing machine. I want that picture to stab the smug snickerers in the eye with.