Some Buses, yesterday
Fully loaded they can carry over 90 people, removing the potential need for 90 extra cars on our roads, cutting down on pollution, congestion and harm to the environment.
A recent column in my local paper, written by a gentleman of advancing years if his picture is anything to go by, advised his readers by the medium of the headline ‘Quit moaning! There’s always the bus’. Intrigued by this, I read on and discovered how fed up he was of motorists moaning about potholes, parking, fuel costs, congestion etc. And how he “Does not drive a car or motorbike, neither does he ride a bicycle or any other wheeled personal transport aid” he is a pedestrian that uses the bus.
He then proceeded to inform me that the potholes that smash my suspension to bits, the congestion, the huge amount of tax on fuel and the fact that car parks have license to print money are all my fault because I drive a car. Also, he told me that its assumed that everyone who owns ‘a bigger and flashier vehicle, the richer (and by association, the more important) the driver’ and best of all the freedom driving gives is all an illusion because (as he puts it) he feels a great deal more freedom than the frustrated motorist behind the bus he is sitting in, as the car cannot overtake due to the volume of traffic.
I think we need to help him and others like him understand a few things, eh?
Ah the children of today...
Lets take this slowly and one point at a time. Buses ARE wonderful, the 90 people on the bus are either students, the unemployed, school kids drinking cider or the over 60′s All of which are either too poor, too drunk or too old to be behind the wheel of anything, and for this reason I love the jolly ol bus. Imagine if all those students had to drive, we would be choked with uninsured 2cv’s and Beetles, spluttering along gasping like a metal asthma attack, trying to avoid the eye of the law and not paying attention to you because the plump girl from the union bar copped a lift and was wearing that top thats two sizes too small… Then there is the danger of 90 more Rovers on the road, all gleaming like they were made yesterday, straw hat and tartan blanket on the parcel shelf, driven at a top speed of 28mph by a man who’s reactions are so slow, continental drift overtakes him while Doris points out interesting trees.
We pay road tax so the roads are maintained and safe for us to drive on. Well thats not quite right, we pay road tax and the government goes and spends it on a war, moat cleaning, duck houses or its mistresses. We do our part and then get nothing in return apart from wonky suspension, so I feel we have a right to complain. Fuel is expensive, but again the fault lies not with the motorist as he suggests. We didn’t decide on the rate of tax, nor did we decide to smash up the countries that its pumped out from. Even so I think that the cost of fuel is a price worth paying for the next point, Freedom.
When the transport minister parks a bus on my drive that will be ready for me anytime day or night, with my own private cabin with comfy bucket seats and a nice stereo, space for me and my family to sit and a nice space to put our weekly shop to go door to door, exactly where I want to stop, and then is capable of a putting a smile on my face as I swoop through some of the prettier parts of Europe on my way to a trackday, then happily go round the track for several hours at high speed and drive me home again, then Ill take the bus.
The idiotic suggestion that motorists get frustrated in towns behind buses is just laughable. The speed limit in town is 30 MPH and most buses can do this. Most bus stops in towns are layby types, so the bus soon gets out of the way, and in bigger cities there are bus lanes,all geared to keeping things moving. Any motorist that wants to drive through a town during the day at 60 is an idiot and deserves to be forced to take the bus with the students and other loonies.
Im not going to even address the ‘big car=big man’ thing as you and I both know that its total garbage. Cars, no matter what, are wonderful things. Its not the price tag, its how it makes you feel. I drove a bus for a long time. I was yelled at, spat at, shot at and moaned at all day long so I can talk with some authority on the subject.
Our friend here by his own admission doesnt drive anything. Someone needs to take him out for a spin.
Just in case you need any further reason to stay in your car and not take the bus, let me introduce you to your fellow passengers…
I think it is quite arrogant of you to suggest that people only take the bus because they are too stupid or poor to buy a car.
My hubby and I refuse to buy a car for many reasons. The main reason is to do with the environment. My husband cycles everywhere, which is beneficial for both the environment and his own health. I either take the bus, or the Metro (Which I would say is more beneficial to the environment) or I walk. I have no intentions of wanting to learn to drive.
It’s also very costly to run a car and to be honest there isn’t a need for a car in Britain. You can get to places easily enough via public transport or walking and never once have I thought that owning a car would be easier.
You say that owning a car is about how it makes you feel, but really, riding a bike in the countryside or down a hill sounds a lot more exhilarating. You get just as much freedom with public transport or a bicycle, rather than a car. My hubby’s parents spent their whole life without a car and it never bothered them either.
I think you may have the wrong end of the stick here, Tru. I believe the article was written as a response to the newspaper article JDMT read.
I’m not going to go into the metrics of which is more environmentally friendly as almost everything has pros and cons. What I can say, is that in some parts of Britain a car is a lifeline. Without one, you would be stuck. I can speak from experience here. Where I used to live was only a few miles out of town but walking was out of the questions (no pavements), cycling was downright dangerous (very narrow roads, a tractor would take up a lane and a half) and buses…what buses? Right now, I’m living in the second biggest city in Japan and there is no need for a car here to commute. It’s easier not to have a car until you try and move house or take your nice new TV home with you. I can say for certain, if you moved out to the countryside here, again, the car is a lifeline. Sure, the trains are excellent here but there are drawbacks. Some of the more remote places only have trains that arrive once an hour at best.
Now, how you feel about riding a bicycle or driving a car is very subjective. Perhaps for you, it’s more exhilarating but you admit you have no intentions of learning how to drive. I’ve experienced both, I enjoy both but there’s something about driving on the edge that gives a more satisfying kick. Totally subjective of course.
As to JDMT’s view on who takes the bus…it’s highly down to where you live. That’s what I believe, and I assume from the article that JDMT used to be a bus driver then I’d say he has more experience of the types of people who ride buses than you or I have put together.
Just my 2 cents.
‘Box’