Wednesday, September 03, 2003
I hate buses.
Now this is partly unfair, as I've always tended to catch buses during rush hours rather than not, whereas trains, which I much prefer, I've hardly ever had to do any meaningful journey during rush hour, certainly not in the direction of the rush. But even so, buses are just cack. I forgot how much of a downer it is on the work day if you need to catch it to and from work. The fact that they're massively irregular, bus timetables that would only be correct if there were no other automobiles on the road. Today they surpassed themselves, with a driver who it seemed didn't know the route. It ended up with us all shouting at him "turn left here", "turn right here" etc... And the bus station tends to be the most unpleasant part of the area to hang around in. Certainly for those of us with legs longer than a few inches the pressing issue of leg room has been relieved a bit with modern buses but when will they invent inertial dampeners so you don't get thrown against an old woman every time you go round a corner? That's another advantage of tube trains, no corners.
Before I moved to my current flat travel to work was a daily adventure through several school-related blackspots in only a three or four mile area. Then I could walk, which was a blessed relief by comparison. And now I'm working at a different branch library which is the only one in the area which I can't get to by any means other than bus (being too lazy to walk two miles each way I'm afraid).
Now this is partly unfair, as I've always tended to catch buses during rush hours rather than not, whereas trains, which I much prefer, I've hardly ever had to do any meaningful journey during rush hour, certainly not in the direction of the rush. But even so, buses are just cack. I forgot how much of a downer it is on the work day if you need to catch it to and from work. The fact that they're massively irregular, bus timetables that would only be correct if there were no other automobiles on the road. Today they surpassed themselves, with a driver who it seemed didn't know the route. It ended up with us all shouting at him "turn left here", "turn right here" etc... And the bus station tends to be the most unpleasant part of the area to hang around in. Certainly for those of us with legs longer than a few inches the pressing issue of leg room has been relieved a bit with modern buses but when will they invent inertial dampeners so you don't get thrown against an old woman every time you go round a corner? That's another advantage of tube trains, no corners.
Before I moved to my current flat travel to work was a daily adventure through several school-related blackspots in only a three or four mile area. Then I could walk, which was a blessed relief by comparison. And now I'm working at a different branch library which is the only one in the area which I can't get to by any means other than bus (being too lazy to walk two miles each way I'm afraid).
