I Tried Public Transport Again....

[Mr Gaga]

I live near to Brighton (East of the City) and we have had a new bus lane put in that covers a major part of the journey. Parking in the City is pretty crap and only the main shopping centre is a reasonable cost.

Anyway, I was keen to jump on the bus and try it. My meetings were at 3pm and 4pm today so I thought the big advantage would be the return journey in the rush hour.

Journey out was fine, bar a kiddy sitting directly behind me with a major cold, not nice... And I don't want a bloody cold thank you very much.

Coming back was great as I only had to wait 5 mins to get the bus that takes me to the end of my road. The bus was pretty full but I got a seat. V hot and I had to suffer 10 mins of a kiddy with his i-pod turned up way way too loud until a girl next to me told the lad in no uncertain terms "turn it down or I will punch your lights out"...LOL

She was a tough cookie and was having a converastion with a bit of a dork (a lad) who seemed to have many stories about fines (as in Court fines) there seemed to be numerous and he was "happy to go to jail" instead of paying them. It made me laugh when he said "they even threatened to take the fines out of my benefits, but I said to them **** off I'm gonna stop claiming them, just to stop you getting my money" Work that one out....

All in all £3.60 well spent and the rush hour journey home was no a problem with there being another bus lane at one of the bottlenecks. I think (where approriate) public transport can help out but if I had to do it day in day out I would be buying another road (motor) bike..

However, has anyone got any spare cough medicine?

Regards

Edited by Mr Gaga on Tuesday 13th April 19:36

[miniman]

Let me guess, much of this occured in the vicinity of Whitehawk?

[Flanders.]

Mr Gaga said:

I live near to Brighton (East of the City) and we have had a new bus lane put in that covers a major part of the journey. Parking in the City is pretty crap and only the main shopping centre is a reasonable cost.

Anyway, I was keen to jump on the bus and try it. My meetings were at 3pm and 4pm today so I thought the big advantage would be the return journey in the rush hour.

Journey out was fine, bar a kiddy sitting directly behind me with a major cold, not nice... And I don't want a bloody cold thank you very much.

Coming back was great as I only had to wait 5 mins to get the bus that takes me to the end of my road. The bus was pretty full but I got a seat. V hot and I had to suffer 10 mins of a kiddy with his i-pod turned up way way too loud until a girl next to me told the lad in no uncertain terms "turn it down or I will punch your lights out"...LOL

She was a tough cookie and was having a converastion with a bit of a dork (a lad) who seemed to have many stories about fines (as in Court fines) there seemed to be numerous and he was "happy to go to jail" instead of paying them. It made me laugh when he said "they even threatened to take the fines out of my benefits, but I said to them **** off I'm gonna stop claiming them, just to stop you getting my money" Work that one out....

All in all £3.60 well spent and the rush hour journey home was no a problem with there being another bus lane at one of the bottlenecks. I think (where approriate) public transport can help out but if I had to do it day in day out I would be buying another road (motor) bike..

However, has anyone got any spare cough medicine?

Regards

Edited by Mr Gaga on Tuesday 13th April 19:36

Sounds lovely. I'll stick to the car thanks.

[mybrainhurts]

How do you get rid of the smell of wee...?

[sneijder]

Don't worry folks, today was the last day I take the bus to work. I sorted out the staff car park at work, and I'm driving from now on.

It'll cost more, I'll save a grand total of 15 minutes but at least I won't catch bird flu or which ever one it is now.

[mybrainhurts]

I think it's Bubonic Plague now....

[T89 Callan]

I went on the train for the first time in years last weekend, even though it was empty, a direct route and running on time the journey still cost more than it would have done in my car (a 4.2L V8!!!) and took 50 mins longer. it was also uncomfortable and the satff were all s.

Overpriced, slow, cramped, uncomfy and unreliable.

Public transport is crap and for losers, there I said it.

[flakeypaul]

If I want to use public transport to get to work, it's a 25 minutes bus ride to the station, a ten minute wait for the next bus, then a 20 minute bus ride, followed by a 15 minute walk to work and would cost £4.80 per day. Not that I can do this, however as I start work at 6.00am and the first bus doesn't arrive till 5.35am.

In the car it takes about 15 minutes and costs around £2 in petrol.

So I can spend an extra £2.80 and an extra 1 hour and 50 minutes in a piss smelling, chav ridden aids box listening to conversations about who's shagged who / how pissed they're getting tonight / when their giro's next due.

...or I can sit in my nice air conditioned eurobox listening to the Beatles.

[sleep envy]

And you have to wonder why it's called the loser cruiser.

[miniman]

flakeypaul said:

...or I can sit in my nice air conditioned eurobox listening to the Beatles.

So what you're saying is you need someone to repair your radio?

[plenty]

I have a 1 hour 10 minute train commute that would take at least 1.5 hours by car. I can get a seat on the train and snooze all the way, or relax with a newspaper or browsing PH mobile, instead of fighting the rush-hour numpties and arriving in the office already stressed and tired.

My driving time is exclusively a recreational pastime and a source of pleasure, unadulterated by transportation pressures.

said:

Public transport is crap and for losers

Obviously many people don't have the luxury of the option not to drive, but among those that do, I don't really get the whole anti-public transport thing on this forum. If public transport accounted for a larger share of journeys, leaving the roads emptier for those who drive for fun, how is that not a win-win?

[miniman]

Public transport can't account for a significantly larger share of journeys. It is already either at capacity or entirely inadequate in terms of routes.

[Mr Gaga]

miniman said:

Let me guess, much of this occured in the vicinity of Whitehawk?

Well along the Coast Road and yes, Whitehawk is off to the left (on the return Journey).

[durbster]

I don't mind getting the bus. It's a good service where I am and the drivers are generally friendly.

Nice to see elitism is alive and well in Britain though. Hooray!

[EDLT]

So you made two trips on a bus and in that time you nearly caught a disease and had to sit next to a thug?

I'll stick with cars.

[paolow]

After much thinking about it I also have recently had the pleasure of boarding a Brighton and Hove loser cruiser.
Wasnt so bad (apart it being a bus) but tickets for me and Mrs Paolow were £5 for a journey of not more than 6 minutes. Next time is cab time.....

[Hitler Hadrump]

Mr Gaga said:

Journey out was fine, bar a kiddy sitting directly behind me with a major cold, not nice... And I don't want a bloody cold thank you very much.

This is the worst bit. I can grit my teeth and put up with people being anti-social, playing terrible music through a mobile phone speaker and shouting at each other, but don't want to sit in a box with someone sneezing germs into the air.

[Mr Gaga]

EDLT said:

So you made two trips on a bus and in that time you nearly caught a disease and had to sit next to a thug?

I'll stick with cars.

You might be correct! But if I had to do it everyday... I would buy a bike.

[Pothole]

I too the train from Kettering to St Pancras International and back yesterday, which would have cost me £40 but I found 2 £20 notes on the floor of a shop in the Westfield shopping centre so it was effectively free. A pleasant journey except my ipod was flat and the 'train manager onboard' on both trips seemed to love the sound of her own voice on the tannoy, but couldn't be bothered to learn off by heart what she needed to say.

[soxboy]

There's a definite difference between buses and trains.

Old House - bus stop outside front door, bus took 30 minutes to get into work for 4 mile journey. Was full of scrotes and cost £4.50 return, think it's more now. Car could do it in less than 20 minutes. Car wins.

New House - 5 minute walk to station, train takes 20 minutes to get into work for 13 mile journey. Nice people to sit around and costs £5.20 return, less than the cost of fuel for journey that takes an hour when it isn't school holidays, 40 minutes when it is. Train wins.