Zhao Bing: An unforgettable Vanpool experience

Zhao Bing: An unforgettable Vanpool experience Phoenix City Zhao Bing I have been commuting in vanpool for a year. vanpool is...

I have been commuting to vanpool for a year. A vanpool is when several colleagues in the company rent a large van to commute to and from get off work. Early every morning, everyone drives their cars to the parking lot where the van is parked, and then takes the van to work. Everyone takes turns being the driver, or there are two fixed volunteers who take turns driving. The rental of the van is paid by the city government and the employer where we work, and all of us only have to pay for the gas.

The advantage of vanpool is that you can use the HOV express lane, which can reduce your commuting time by half. In addition, since everyone shares the gas money equally, you can save a lot of gas money a year. For me, I can save about $2,000 a year. Also, you can close your eyes and relax in the car, read newspapers, surf the Internet, and rest. Of course, since everyone only uses one car, the car emits less exhaust gas, which also contributes to air purification in Phoenix and helps save energy. Therefore, the vanpool is really a win-win means of commuting to work for both others and yourself.

Of course, this vanpool is not perfect. For example, you have to go to get off work early, otherwise the commute will be late, and the HOV express lane will be crowded. In addition, since you don’t have a car from the time you get on the van to the time you get off work, you can’t go out for lunch, which makes it inconvenient when you need a car. Of course, it would be even less perfect if you encounter someone snoring and talking in their sleep in the van. If you need to take your child to see a doctor or something on a certain day, you usually drive your own car to get off work instead of taking a van. Today, I will talk about an experience that happened to me with Vanpool.

I have been sitting in the vanpool for a year. Apart from the problem of getting up early, I am generally satisfied. However, recently, the calmness of the vanpool has been slightly broken due to the arrival of a new person. This newcomer is called Tom. He is about sixty years old and looks kind. However, he has two problems. One problem is that he sleeps and snores as soon as he gets in the car. Another problem is that he likes to grab good seats. In fact, although the seats are free to sit, generally speaking, the people who join the vanpool first usually sit in the good seats in the front. After a few years, everyone's seats are basically fixed, but Tom doesn't care. He takes this seat today and another seat tomorrow, so everyone has to change seats with him. , slowly moved his position from the last row to the front row, often sitting in the passenger seat. In this way, the passenger seat has been frequently called frequently recently, which has caused great trouble to the driver John. John privately told us that because Tom shouted so loudly, it was difficult for him to concentrate on the road while driving, and he was worried that if this continued, there would be an accident.

We all became anxious when we heard this, because John is the most steady driver among us. So several of us decided to take turns to arrive early and occupy the passenger seat before Tom arrived in the parking lot, so that Tom could not sit next to John and sleep and snore unscrupulously, and our safety was guaranteed.

Last week it was my turn to arrive early to seize the passenger seat. Originally, I got up at 5:30 in the morning and arrived at the parking lot of the van at 6 o'clock. Since I had to arrive early, I got up at 5 o'clock on Monday morning and arrived at the van at about 5:45. So when Tom came at 6 o'clock, I was already sitting in the passenger seat with my eyes closed and concentrating, and he had to snore in the back seat. When I got off work, I rushed five minutes early to get into the passenger seat before Tom. In this way, everyone spent Monday safely.

On Tuesday, I did the same thing again. Tom's voice still stayed in the back row, John's car still drove so steadily, and John's mouth showed a proud smile from time to time.

On Wednesday, because Tom was aware of it, he arrived earlier than me in the morning, so he took the passenger seat first. John had to drive to work amidst Tom's snoring. When he couldn't stand it anymore, he made a small emergency brake to wake Tom up from his dream. But I still rushed to seize the co-pilot's seat before Tom got off work.

On Thursday, I got up earlier and sat in the passenger seat at 5:30. Tom also arrived at 5:35. He looked surprised when he saw that I was already sitting in the passenger seat, but he started snoring as soon as he got in the car. Since the driving time was six o'clock, I was tortured by his cry in the car for nearly 30 minutes. In this dark morning, the cry seemed particularly loud. However, I quite admired Tom's ability to fall asleep quickly and thought that he must have no worries. But when I got off work that day, because I had a long-delayed meeting, when I rushed to the van after the meeting, Tom was already sitting in the passenger seat and whirring, and his whistling seemed to tell me that he had won. I thought to myself, I must be the first to rush to the car after get off work tomorrow.

So I skipped lunch the next day and did some afternoon work in advance. In addition, I also advanced the time of a meeting in the afternoon by half an hour. As soon as the meeting ended, I rushed to the car, 10 minutes earlier than Tom. I sat firmly in the passenger seat and looked at Tom's disappointed look. I felt quite proud.

On the way back to the parking lot in the van from the company, I occasionally chatted with John to prevent him from falling asleep while driving, but basically I closed my eyes and rested my mind. When I got to the parking lot, I suddenly woke up and realized that I had fallen asleep too. You can’t blame me. I was too tired from fighting with Tom these days. After arriving at the parking lot, Tom and I were the last two to leave the van. On the way from where we parked the van to where our respective cars were parked, Tom said softly: "You just fell asleep in the car and were snoring and talking in your sleep."

When I heard what he said, I felt embarrassed and angry. He continued: "I see John is quite nervous while driving. I really want to wake you up." A minute later, we arrived at the parking spot where our respective cars usually are. When Tom got into his car, I suddenly found that my car was not where I usually parked it. I thought: Oh no, the car has been stolen. What a bad luck. I looked around and saw that there was only Tom's car in the parking lot. The car really disappeared like this. I felt extremely desperate. Tom looked at my depressed look and asked me if I needed his help. Should I call the police? Suddenly I felt that Tom was my only support in the empty parking lot.

Suddenly my phone rang. It was my wife who called me to remind me not to forget to take my son to the dentist later. So I told her that my car was stolen and I had to deal with it now, so I couldn't take my son to the dentist. I hoped she would take her son there.

After hanging up the phone, I paused and almost screamed. I said to Tom: "Tom, I really need your help now. Can you drive me back to our company?"

"Why?" Tom asked in confusion.

"Because I had to take my son to the dentist today and didn't plan to take a van, so I drove my own car to work at the company in the morning, and my car is still parked at the company!"