Lawrence Journal-World reporter Chad Lawhorn and his daughter, Olivia, 8, head to catch the No. 5 bus near 23rd Street and Haskell Avenue.

John Tucker rides the No. 6 bus to downtown Wednesday. Figuring out the bus routes and schedules can be a challenge. But

Glenn Three Stars rides the No. 5 bus west on 23rd Street Wednesday morning. You

City buses line up for passengers at the bus stop on Vermont Street between 7th and 8th streets.

Every minute matters.

That’s why smoke is coming off of my cowboy boots at the moment. Residents near 27th and Alabama streets can attest to that. They’re probably wondering why Nike doesn’t make cowboy boots for the Olympic sprinters after watching me run down their neighborhood street, complete with boots, dress shirt and tie.

Behind me is my eight-year-old daughter. Or maybe she is ahead of me. There’s also a Journal-World photographer. I’m sure I’m beating him. No, we’re not running from danger. Not even running to the scene of some spectacular story.

This is much more important. We have a bus to catch. I’m spending some time riding the Lawrence public transit system, and I’ve already caught onto one fact: Minutes matter.

“The most frustrating part is when you are a minute or so late,” said Jon McMillian, who was taking the No. 6 to West Lawrence. “Usually, that means you’ll have another hour to wait.”

Another hour? Not today. I’m sure these boots have another gear. Now, here’s hoping the bus has a defibrillator.

•••

They say man plans and God laughs. Well, I don’t know God’s role in the public transit system, but try taking a bus trip across the city without a bit of planning, and he’ll likely end up laughing at you as you walk across town.

Talk to anyone on the bus, and they’ll tell you that a bit of planning is key. Know the routes, know the stops, know how much walking you’ll have to do.

“But once you get the rhythm down, it really works,” said John Tucker, a frequent bus rider who was taking the No. 6 to downtown.

At the moment I don’t have much rhythm, but I do have a sheet of yellow notebook paper. It has the route I’ve planned for myself. There are some trip planning tools on the city’s website, or I could have even called the transit office and asked for some help. But I’m a man. We don’t ask for directions.

“That’s right,” says Glenn Three Stars, who is waiting for the No. 5 at 23rd and Haskell. “We just get lost.”

Not if I keep ahold of this piece of paper we won’t. And if we do get lost, perhaps my daughter brought a flare gun. But I’m confident we won’t. I’ve been on this route once before. It was five years ago that my daughter and I got on the bus for the first time.

It was for a Journal-World article about how you can use the transit system to get around town. Back then, just like now, our starting point was 19th and Haskell. We traveled to the area near 27th and Alabama to leave my daughter at her daycare, and then I made my way to the shopping center at Sixth and Monterey Way.

Back then, it took me three hours and 4 minutes to make the trip, although a miscommunication between myself and a bus driver on the proper route to take cost me about 30 minutes. So, call it two hours and 30 minutes. It is five years later, a few route tweaks and a new pair of cowboy boots later. We’ll see how long the same trip takes now.

•••

There is a man with a hammer tucked into his belt. As he gets on the bus, he doesn’t really look like he wants to talk that much, and I’ll be honest, I didn’t press the issue. But, I’m going to assume he was going work.

Lots of people on The T are. Jesse Bess takes the bus to Amarr Garage Doors in East Hills Business Park everyday. He catches the bus at 5:31 — not 5:32 — each morning. He loves the system. Says it is far more user-friendly than the Kansas City, Mo., system he was used to.

Other people ride for other reasons. One was coming back from a doctor’s appointment. One was coming back from a downtown swim team practice. One was using this bus to get to another bus stop. No, not the Greyhound stop. The bus stop where the casinos pick up riders looking to do a little gaming.

That hasn’t changed much in five years. Then as now, people ride for all types of reasons. Some ride by choice, and some ride because they don’t have a car and their feet are tired.

What has changed is that the city’s transit system is on much firmer financial footing. Back in November 2008, voters overwhelmingly approved sales taxes totaling 0.25 percent to fund operations and improvements to the system. But perhaps some of you have forgotten that the tax came with a sunset of 10 years. We’ve now passed the halfway point. Voters in less than five years very well may be asked to determine if the T is worth the city’s time and money again.

•••

We had two minutes to spare. After I said a very sentimental goodbye to my daughter — which I believe consisted of shoving her towards her mother’s car and saying “go, go, go” and “heaven help me if the defibrillator is broken” — I turned and ran the block or so to the bus stop.

Truth be told, I never had to sprint, but there was some jogging involved because there was some actual worry that I would miss the bus. That portion of the trip was the toughest part of the day. Here was my route:

• Arrive at 7:50 a.m. at 19th and Haskell. Although there is a bus stop at 19th and Haskell, it wasn’t the route I really needed. So, we walked to 23rd and Haskell.

• 8:10 a.m. Catch the No. 5 westbound. Depart at 23rd and Louisiana. Well, road construction made it closer to 23rd and Tennessee Street. The lack of a sidewalk on that side of the street meant we walked through someone’s yard. But don’t worry, there was a well-worn path for us to follow.

• 8:18 to 8:43 a.m.: Walk from 23rd and Louisiana to about a block south of 27th and Alabama. Drop off my daughter with her mom. (My daughter doesn’t go to daycare anymore.) Circle back to 27th Street to catch the No. 7 to take me downtown.

• 8:56 a.m.: Arrive at 7th and Vermont Street in downtown. Catch the No. 6 just 6 minutes later to take me to Sixth and Monterey.

On my yellow sheet of paper I had written down that I would arrive at Sixth and Monterey at “about 9:20.” When I stepped off the bus and looked at my phone, it was exactly 9:20 a.m.. Despite a lot of construction work around town, the bus was on time.

So, the total for the day was one hour and thirty minutes, or a full hour better than what it took me five years ago. Truth be told, I could shave another 10 minutes off the trip, now that I know how long it takes to walk from 19th to 23rd Street.

In talking with transit leaders, I learned that there have been two new city bus routes added in the last five years, and transferring between a city bus and a KU bus has become simple and free in the last few years. Neither of those changes factored into my route, though. I believe the biggest factor in the time improvement was a better synchronization of the routes. There was definitely less standing around and waiting for a bus this time than five years ago.

Granted, I did walk more this time, though only by about four blocks. But if walking is a problem, this trip would have been difficult. There are options though. The city operates a paratransit system that takes riders door to door. You must have a note from a doctor to qualify, but anything from a chronic medical condition to a temporary broken leg can qualify you to ride the door-to-service.

I walked – or jogged — more than I normally do in a day, but no defibrillator was needed. Extra deodorant would have come in handy. Ask my desk neighbor, if you don’t believe me.

I’m sure you all want to know about rider numbers too. For years, some of you have called the The T, the EmpTy. Except for about a two-block period, there were always other riders on the bus with us. But no, it never was close to full. There are full buses on the city’s system, but most of them are taking students and KU workers to the campus. Most times there were four to six other riders on the bus.

I had other observations about the system as well: The route map seemed easier to read, and a new text system to alert me when a bus is arriving worked OK. But the observations that have stuck with me have more to do with how we live than with how the bus system operates.

I certainly was reminded that patience is a virtue. Let’s not kid ourselves, the bus ride was fine, but I made the same trip in my truck in 26 minutes. Good for me, I have a truck. (Although the bus trip at $1 total probably was cheaper.) Not everybody has a truck, or as was the case with two people I talked to, not everyone feels they can safely drive.

So, for a day anyway, I was patient. I wished the bus was quicker. I wished I didn’t have to walk as much. I wished the dang crosswalk light would change already because . . . I had a bus to catch.

In a way, I guess it comes back to that original thought: Every minute matters. But if you spend a day riding the bus, you’ll be reminded that not every minute is about you. The first guy I met on the bus said it best.

“You are a part of a system, and you have to work within the system,” Three Stars said.

I may not ride the bus again for several more years, but regardless, it seems like that is a thought that will serve me well. Car, bus or just a smoking-fast pair of cowboy boots, it doesn’t matter.

We’re all just along for the ride.