I walk out of my apartment to the nearby bus stop five minutes before the next scheduled passing time. I decide to wait, relieved not to have to walk 15 minutes in the rain to the nearest transit station.

Minutes roll by and the bus appears to have vanished somewhere along the way. No problem, the next one should come by in 10 minutes. After 20 minutes, I lose my patience and walk to Tunney’s Pasture. I then wait 12 minutes for a bus that should run every three minutes.

When the packed bus finally comes I squeeze myself and my overstuffed backpack in the tiny space between other passengers and the closing rear door, nearly losing a limb in the process.

Riding to Algonquin, I am sandwiched between a man who seemingly doesn’t believe in bathing and a woman whose umbrella keeps poking my side. Sound familiar? OC Transpo recently announced a fare hike, but what are we getting for our money? Our buses are overcrowded and rarely run on schedule. I keep hearing Ottawa has excellent bus service but I’ve travelled by bus in many cities and I’ve never seen service worse than Ottawa’s.

In Quebec, Montreal, San Diego and even crowded Singapore, buses run on schedule, give or take a few minutes. I wouldn’t mind the inferior service if it was at least a good value for the money. In Montreal, to use the nearest large city as an example, full-time students aged 18 to 25 pay $32.50 for monthly passes accepted on buses and metros.

In Ottawa, a student pass costs $53.25 and since that isn’t enough, on Dec. 1 that price will increase to $58.25. To make matters worse, OC Transpo drivers threatened last month to strike, demanding the same pay increase as police officers. However, cops have life-threatening jobs and I doubt they would get their raise if they routinely arrived 30 minutes late at crime scenes.

I understand that driving around with no respect for schedules and taking cigarette breaks when already late should not go unrewarded. But riding bicycles down the Transitway and towing trailers to carry our books and laptops would put us in a worse predicament than the drivers’ and it shouldn’t have to come to that.

If OC Transpo and its drivers want more of our money they should provide a reliable service suited for people with tight schedules and send more buses during rush hour so we’re treated like humans, not sardines. In the meantime, I’ll be riding to class late on the 95, my face pressed against the chest of a muscular young man twice my size, inhaling his cologne. Hey, maybe this situation does have its upside.