Didn’t make it to AltCarExpo? Attend it virtually via this post. The place was a madhouse even on Friday morning.

A bunch of school groups took a field trip to the Expo.

GM took up a huge area, featuring Chevy Volt — the electric car to debut in 2010 — next to GM’s first electric car from the 90s, featured in the film Who Killed the Electric Car?

And lots more funky and futuristic cars covered the Expo floor.

As you know, I took the bus to AltCarExpo because my bike got a flat. And as happens about a quarter of the time I take the Big Blue Bus, I got a free ride.

Why? I needed to add money to my Little Blue Card — but at least half the time, the fareboxes don’t work properly. When that happens, the driver just waves me back and says I can pay “next time.”

Once at the Expo, I was a panelist on the “Transforming Transit” Symposium — where we discussed futuristic bus designs, including eliminating fareboxes through some sort of radio frequency system. Listen to the panel on AutoblogGreen.

Of course, simply installing fareboxes that actually work could speed up the boarding process NOW — while generating deserved and much-needed revenues for the Big Blue Bus….

Because my ride back home was free too — The Big Blue Bus system’ll easily take 75 cents, but really has a hard time acceptiing $20 bills. So I saved $1.50, while BBB gave me two free rides.

I guess I can’t really complain –

Photo of the panel by Sebastian Blanco of AutoblogGreen; all other photos by Siel

Update, 11/17/08: The Big Blue Bus now has to cut some rides, partly due to decreased state funding — and perhaps partly due to the fact that I only pay to ride about half the time?

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