Urban Legends, Haunted Places, ETC .

The Bus to Nowhere

There is a bus in Philadelphia which SEPTA does not talk about. It is not listed on the website. It has neither schedule nor route. It drives the city in a pattern known only to its driver, and perhaps not even to him. Its electronic reader board never displays a number, only "SEPTA." People who know it call it the Zero, the Random Bus, the Wandering Bus, or just The Bus. It is not a bus for people who know where they want to go. It is a bus for departures.

The Bus has a way of showing up when you are at your lowest. You will hit a certain point, feel a disconcerting crumple in an inner place you thought solid, like a hand crushing an origami box. Just then you look up to see The Bus a block away. You always need to run for it, but just a little bit. Just enough to show you need it. It will wait.

There is an automated voice. It does not say Route forty, service to Second and Lombard. The Bus does not deal in those specifics. It says only Service from and the name of the intersection you are standing at. The doors clunk open, you get on board, the doors hiss shut, and the bus moves on. The driver does not ask where you want to go, but many passengers tell him anyway: Just drive. You pay fare if you can, but if you can't, the driver will nod, with eyes covered by his blue hat, and you will nod and you will head to your seat.

The shifty and the shameful and the shameless ride Philadelphia's buses. But most of them are trying to get somewhere. They want to see someone, or acquire something, or get to a place by a time. The Wandering Bus is not for them. Its riders are the people who need to leave wherever they are at that moment. Just leave. The bus goes everywhere. It has been seen in West Powelton, and Grad Hospital, and Center City. It drives down Passyunk, and Haverford, and Dauphin. Most people don't notice The Bus because it isn't the one they're looking for. If your heart is bright and your spirit buoyant, it is likely that you have never seen The Bus.

The Wandering Bus serves a wider clientele than you might think. The failing businessman, the addict's sister, the questioning Reverend have all ridden on The Bus. Even a mayor and a police chief and a manager of the Phillies. There is no conversation on The Bus. What's more, when you get off, you cannot recall who was on The Bus with you, or how crowded it was. You remember only that you sat by the window and watched the city slide through your translucent reflection. At some point, you were moved to pull the cord and disembark. One night, your feet hit the pavement, the bus pulled away, and you found yourself near to where you needed to be.

Folks say that some people have ridden The Bus for years on end. Others predict that The Bus will one day leave the city, taking its passengers with it. A woman who knew many things said there was a Wandering Bus in every city she had ever visited. There are even a few who claim that if you ride The Bus long enough, you will one day be dropped off back before your troubles began. But those people are never on The Bus when they say it.

Many people in big cities are used to using public transit to get from place to place. They are no stranger to waiting at bus stops or using maps to select the best route to get them to their destination. Many are even able to visualize the routes in their heads, just by seeing the number on the front of a bus marquee.

Phantom Bus to Nowhere

What many people don't do is aimlessly wander until seeing a bus, stop dead in their tracks, and then take off in a dead sprint right toward that bus. And it's probably even less common for that bus to sense that a person is running for it, pause ever so slightly to determine the depth of that need, before stopping and taking its passenger aboard.

This is, however, a more common occurrence in Philadelphia, and there is just such a bus. Often referred to as the Wandering Bus or the Zero, Philadelphia's phantom bus never shows a street, a route, or a destination, it just drives. And just like the bus, many of its passengers have no predetermined street, route, or destination.

The bus to nowhere has been spotted at all points of the city by the hopeless and lost. You wouldn't notice it unless you were looking for it, but it has been commonly reported on West Powelton, Center City, Passyunk, Haverford, Dauphin, and at the Grad Hospital. Some have even claimed that the bus has traveled to other cities.

The ghost version of the SEPTA picks up the travelers who have experienced awful things in their lives- things awful enough to push them to the lowest possible points of their despair. Stories have surfaced about passengers who had gotten into a fight with a family member who then later was killed in a drunk driving accident, suffered a miscarriage as a result of a husband's infidelity, lost everything they and their family owned to gambling, or even having committed a murder.

The bus is not on any route map and no number is displayed on its marquee. It doesn't even belong to the city. It just seems to answer the internal call from an individual in their own personal hell, who just wants to get away from here- to go anywhere but here.

Phantom Bus to Nowhere

When they get on the bus, there is no noise, no conversation, no signs, and usually not even a fare requested. There is no indication of where service is to, just a note that service is from the intersection of wherever you are currently standing. Many passengers who have survived the ride report not remembering the driver, or if there even was one, any of the passengers, or stops. It's as if time, places, and things have no meaning on the phantom bus.

All the passengers can remember is sitting on that seat, in their own personal hell. They ride around for hours, days, weeks, even years. Those lucky enough to rouse themselves from the fog report almost seeming to start themselves back to a place of clarity. They pull the cord and end up just where they needed to be. Most patrons who get off the bus have no recollection or memory of even having ridden, just of getting off.

Those riders not so lucky just ride around in a state of perpetual despair. Rumor has it that one day the bus will disappear forever, taking all its riders with it. Others claim the bus will just give up waiting and take you to where your troubles began. Either way, that is a one-way ticket with a hefty price.