Got on the wrong bus!

I guess it happens when you move to a new city, but I thought it would be difficult to do with modern technology in hand.

I'd gone to see some apartments and one of them was a bit further off than I have been before. It was raining and I finished the apartment viewing at about 9:10pm. It gets dark here at about 5:30pm so after 9 is practically nighttime. There weren't too many people on the streets. I used the maps app to figure out the bus to take me back home and walked down to the nearby bus stop. I saw a couple of buses of the correct number pass me on the way and I realized I may need to wait for some time before the next one turns up. The buses usually have a decent enough frequency but it looks like some buses catch up with the one in front and travel almost together. In any case, I reached the bus stop, closed the umbrella and prepared to wait. As usual, there was another bus stop across the road and I saw another couple of buses of the correct number stopping at that stop but none turned up at mine. A few other buses came, stopped and went off.

It was getting darker and I was getting a bit worried because the buses stop operating at some point at night and I wasn't too sure when. A couple of taxis had passed by which was an option for me, but even those didn't appear later. Finally the correct bus appeared and I got on, swiped my card and found a seat. Which wasn't difficult because there was only one other person on board. The trip back to the hotel would take me more than half an hour so there was plenty of time. As is my habit, I took out the phone to track myself on the map app, and realized I was going in the wrong direction. I wondered if the route had changed (having seen that before when the bus took a slightly different route due to some construction) but it was quickly apparent that it was going in the opposite direction to where I wanted to go.

I thought about getting off at the next stop, which turned out to be the railway station. I got off, made my way to a sheltered spot (remember, it was still raining) and fired up the map again. What had happened was that I had got on the right bus but it was going in the wrong direction. I should have been waiting at the bus stop across the road and should have taken one of the buses that I calmly watched stopping at that stop. I walked around to the location where the map showed the bus back would stop (same bus number) and waited for some time. No buses showed up.

Then I saw a taxi with a green light (meaning it was available) in the distance. It was on a different road, however, and soon vanished. Now, the railway station was deserted and there was no visible taxi stand and the map didn't show any subway station either. Then I decided to walk down to the road where I saw the taxi and see if I could catch one. Remember, it was still raining and it was dark. I walked down and waited at a strategic spot, but no other taxis showed up. Then a bus passed by. It was not the right number, but I saw where it stopped in the distance and saw on the map that it was a bus stop. I walked down till there and decided it was as good a spot at any to wait for a bus or for a taxi. There was sporadic traffic, but no taxis or buses. Finally I saw a bus approaching, and it was the correct number. I checked my bus card and was ready to hop on. Except it didn't stop.

I checked the app again, and to my horror I figured out I was now at the wrong stop. The only stop for that number was back at the railway station and the next one was about a couple of kilometers away. Of course, it also means that had I waited a bit longer at the railway station I would have been on that bus. With no other choice, I walked back to the railway station and waited at the correct spot, hoping that it wasn't too late and the buses were still functional. Finally a bus turned up, I got on and spent the next 40 odd minutes on it, on the way back to the hotel.