BUS CHAT

It always baffles me when people get snobby about using the bus. Maybe it's different in London, but living in Leeds (and I would presume any major UK city) there's really no POINT in learning to drive unless you have kids and move out to the suburbs. They're cheap, fairly reliable (much moreso than the fucking trains) and for the most part perfectly safe and comfortable.
 
It always baffles me when people get snobby about using the bus. Maybe it's different in London, but living in Leeds (and I would presume any major UK city) there's really no POINT in learning to drive unless you have kids and move out to the suburbs. They're cheap, fairly reliable (much moreso than the fucking trains) and for the most part perfectly safe and comfortable.

Back when I live in Leeds the bus was ridiculously expensive from LS16 into town. It's cheaper 10 years to get a day ticket for the Metrolink and I live further away from the city. And they were always filthy.
 
It always baffles me when people get snobby about using the bus. Maybe it's different in London, but living in Leeds (and I would presume any major UK city) there's really no POINT in learning to drive unless you have kids and move out to the suburbs. They're cheap, fairly reliable (much moreso than the fucking trains) and for the most part perfectly safe and comfortable.

Why would it be different in London using a bus when there are over 700 (Book of Stats: Google Verified) different routes? Pretty sure people use buses more in London proportionally than any other city in the UK because there's such variety in where they can take you.
 
I think I'm misunderstanding VoR's point. Surely London is the easiest place in the country not to drive. In Bristol buses certainly don't make it easy not to drive. Routes are determined by profitability and nothing else. Getting into and out of the city centre is one thing (but that's only a bus every 30 minutes on a lot of routes, including mine) but trying to get to a neighbouring area will invariably mean having to go into and out of the centre (unless it's on the same route).

Bus travel in general is falling across the country, but it's falling a lot quicker outside of London than it is within it. And London accounts for over half all bus journeys in the country.
 
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The city council may well have just declared a climate emergency, but they will still give First Bus the contract, allow them to dictate a shitty service which effectively forces people into cars, and allow First to bully competition out of service.
 
I never ever take the bus because it's so utterly pointless in a smaller city. I can walk to the city centre in 40 minutes, or bike it in 10, so I'll do that. The buses take half an hour.
 
I managed 3 years in Glasgow only getting the bus once. A cab was usually only 2 pounds more than a bus ticket.
 
Bus travel must be the only thing that is cheaper in London than outside it. £1.50 per journey regardless of length and you can change as many times as you like within an hour for no extra charge. :disco:
 
I live in the town centre and can get everywhere by bus. Now that it's all on a phone app, I don't really have any complaints. My bus ride home at my last job was normally quicker than most peoples car journeys.
 
The cheapest ticket here is £1.20, but that's for three stops only. Then it's staggered according to length of journey. For me it would be £3 into the city centre, about 3 miles. But there's no such thing as a transfer ticket. To get across the other side of the city would be two tickets, so a day ticket at £5 is cheaper. Although I do it all on the app, which is just over £70 a month.
 
Also I have a student pass which is cheap as. Otherwise I have to admit is not very economical.
 
The last time I got a bus 2 classy ladies were gobbing on each other and shouting abuse. One was on the bus with her baby, and the other off the bus. The delightful lady on the bus opened the window and grogged up a disgusting mouthful of phlegm and spat it all over the looker outside. The looker outside decided to then spit all over the window from the outside, somehow not knowing that the spittle was not going to hit her target on the bus as she was protected by the bus window. VILE.

I have no problem with buses, it’s PEOPLE I hate.
 
The bus service in London is outstanding, I guess outside London I can see the snobbery. Actually the whole TFL is amazing, and you have to leave London and try another service to see how good it is
 
It is safe to say if I can drive to the destination I will, rather than rely on public transport.
 
I plug myself into music and cough when anyone tries to sit next to me. I don't indulge others.

To be fair it's what route you take. To my last job it went to the town station so it was a lot of London bound commuters and then on to the hospital so nurses and old people. Now it's students and if you're really lucky you get the bus that carries on to Jaywick :disco:
 
Sorry, I wasn't saying the Buses are worse in London - I genuinely don't know, I don't use them. I was just wondering if maybe Londoners have a lower opinion of buses because they can get most places so much faster on the Tube.
 
Buses for travelling within a crowded city centre are ineffective and far inferior to the underground or trams, unless you’d like a bit of sightseeing.
 
Alas the underground hasn't arrived at the mega metropolis that is yet. We're very much zone 25. Although we do have THREE railway stations. I know. Calm yourselves.
 
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I do miss the bendy buses of Brighton. Now there's a city with excellent public transport.
 
Alas the underground hasn't arrived at the mega metropolis that is Colchester yet. We're very much zone 25. Although we do have THREE railway stations. I know. Calm yourselves.

Cities without transit maps are dead to me!


Slightly off topic, but my new obsession is zooming in on random cities in the map app (apple or google maps) just to see what beautiful multicoloured transport networks they have.
 
I do miss the bendy buses of Brighton. Now there's a city with excellent public transport.
I love Brighton's buses. I Wonder if Leo Sayer the bus is still going.
lsayer.jpg
 
The vibrations of the bus make me sick, so I avoid them as much as possible.

I can however deal with a COACH.
 
It took me 45 minutes to get in to town today on the bus in Edinburgh due to roadworks. I had to run for my train. :angry:
 
I get the bus everyday. Edinburgh has a terrible train network, and the trams don’t (currently) go anywhere either. The buses here though are brilliant, and most importantly they’re clean.

Glasgow’s train network is so much better, so when I’m there, I generally avoid the buses. They’re definitely not looked after the same way the ones in Edinburgh are. Kim would not approve.
 
Sorry, I wasn't saying the Buses are worse in London - I genuinely don't know, I don't use them. I was just wondering if maybe Londoners have a lower opinion of buses because they can get most places so much faster on the Tube.

Guess it depends really. In the city centre, definitely tube because with the traffic etc buses take too long. But out in the burbs, buses are brilliant. Especially if you are going between suburbs that aren't on the same tube line, or for 'smaller' trips (i.e. 20 mins) then they are great. There's so many of them too, so it makes it pretty easy to get anywhere in your borough without having to use the (rather fabulous compared to other cities) tube.
 

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