Just a few general comments... its a myth that PT is miles cheaper on the Continent than over here, there may well be countries which are (but where the standard of living is less such as the Czech Rep), but on the whole PT in Northern Europe is similar to ours - two years ago we went to Dresden, one day we parked the car up and used the train, mile per mile it worked out more expensive than a trip from Kiddy to Birmingham in this country...
Buses into Birmingham... it very much depends on the bus company, the main ones are pretty new, but some, like Diamond, use some ropy old things...
I drive into Birmingham every day, and other than during rush hours I'd say it was one of the more civilised cities to get into and park, certainly not the nightmare an earlier poster says!
I recently went up to Aberdeen and took both their city buses and (I think) Stagecoach, both were fine, price middling, but I wanted a drink so no choice!
I agree that if you travel regularly a weekly or monthly is a bargain, but these "dayrangers" are as well if you make full use of them...
The "state" of the person next to you is probably the best argument for not using PT, and the reason people "spread out" when using trains and buses... "personal space" and all that... did you know that it also applies to lifts as well... next time you use a lift watch how everyone behaves... one into the far corner, one into the other corner, next into the left hand one and so on...!
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BTW the OP forgot the biggest plus to using PT... the ability to be able to sit back with a good book whilst someone else gets would up about the state of the traffic... not possible if you have a bad bus driver but fine on a train...
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Dismal experience - I caught a bus home from town the other night, rickety old thing, bus driver wearing an iPod - three of us on it.......horrible experience.
13 quid for a taxi for the same route and 2.20 for the bus.....almost worth the difference. Mind you it was bang on time at each end of the journey.
Edited by Pugugly on 13/02/2010 at 08:59
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As far as I know using an ipod is against the Bus Company's rules, certainly is for driving a train... I'd report it if I were you.
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Yep they are not even allowed mobile phones to be switched on in the cab. They all have CCTV over the driver here too, and the CCTV even points at the road so if there wasn an accident it helps with evidence.
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In Belfast the buses are a nightmare, the city buses "metro" are £1.40 at peak times and the longest journey is about a 4 mile radius from the city centre. Some of the buses are new double deckers and a mixture of single deckers going right back to the early 1990's, in times of "tension" they have been know to wheel out old 1980's buses!
The drivers are a nightmare, most haven't got a clue how to drive smoothly and the standard mirror-signal-manoeuvre has been replaced with manoeuvre-signal- hit horn and give "V" sign.
Worse still is that they have been known to hit parked vehicles and drive on, I've seen this twice with my own eyes, the first driver denyed everything when I caught up with him, despite leaving a big pink mark on the car he hit, the second just said "Phone the depot, I'm late enough".
If the management try to discipline a driver, they walk out en masse, which is no bad thing because the last time the buses were off the road and the bus lanes given back to all traffic for the day, it was the easiest journey to work I've ever had in the car.
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When we lived in the UK (Dorset) we used the bus regularly and found it reasonably priced, reliable and acceptably pleasant. That was the Firstbus Portland/Weymouth route that used up-to-date Volvos that even knelt down for old folk and mums with pushchairs. In my opinion it beat an often unreliable taxi service that eventually cost 16 quid-odd (plus tip!) for the return trip of 4.5 miles each way.
That was seven or eight years ago so it may be different now, of course.
Three years ago we were staying in south London and commuting by whatever they call London Transport now. We found it cheap, reliable and friendly. We hadn't realised until then what an interesting place Brixton is...
Just as an aside, you can travel from the Italian border at Menton on the Mediterranean coast, via Casino Square in Monaco and the Cote d'Azur all the way to Nice - or anywhere in between - in an air-conditioned bus with coach seats and pleasant muzak for one euro or a little more each way. The journey takes an hour or so and no-one in their right mind would travel any other way.
Edited by mike hannon on 13/02/2010 at 12:16
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This dormitory village of 3500 souls has just an hourly service comprising a call on the Daventry to Northampton route. Stagecoach run (mostly) modern low floor buses and the £5 return fare is cheaper than parking at the station.
If it ran three times an hour and after 6pm I'd be able to get rid of one of the cars.
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The "state" of the person next to you is probably the best argument for not using PT and the reason people "spread out" when using trains and buses... "personal space"
The other way round this is, as a passenger approaches you grin widely at them and pat the empty seat next to you. Guaranteed to ensure that they scuttle past you.
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What do you do if they sit down next to you then.... ;)
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What do you do if they sit down next to you then.... ;)
Then you've got a friend for life who will always wave and shout to you across a busy street (but don't expect a Christmas card off them though).
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QUOTE:...""The bus as an alternative to the car -- pah!""
Wouldn't a bus be a bit difficult to park in your drive or in a normal parking space? Certainly it wouldn't fit in a domestic garage. Also it would take much longer to clean and polish on a Sunday morning.
Edited by Sofa Spud on 13/02/2010 at 16:32
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think of all the legroom in the back!
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I try to use the bus if I can, now that I have an over 60s bus pass. The buses are expensive and I would use the car if I did not have a pass. The downside is that you sometimes have an unexpected walk or long wait. This is East Northants, and our service is fairly reliable. The car is more reliable, and does not involve standing at a bus stop in the cold, or having to arrive five minutes early because drivers won't wait if they are early.
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3 yrs to wait? I,m 57 now , oh I do hope the bus service improves ?
been on 3 buses in the last 35 yrs ,
baa humbug last time i was on one , there was a thing to strike your matches on , on the back of the seat infront ,,
don,t suppose ,,,,
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I used to be able to walk the 4 miles into Leeds faster than the bus could get me there on a weekday morning.
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walking is for donkeys*** , this IS a motoring forum after all?
*** unless you owned a metro
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By walking I'm keeping my car off the road, being selfless and helping others to enjoy their motoring. :-))
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I complety agree with you but I have two cars out there, one with a failed head gasket and one that drives by its self. In this weather both cars are more appealing than walking but my idea of walking to a job is a job that is 4 miles away :)
I usually walk at least 2-3 miles a day :) On average I probably drive 10 miles a day. When I do use public transport it is only for long distances (e.g 20 miles), any where north of the city, or into the city centre.
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I'm using buses very regularly whilst living in the Netherlands. £2.20 return into town isn't bad, cheaper than parking a car for an hour. If the backstreets weren't as icy I'd cycle more, however especially for the evening journeys to the pub I'd rather not be cycling on ice and packed snow after a few beers.
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Locally (Yorks) the bus service into town (about 2.5 miles) costs about £1.50 return. Alternatively driving in costs less than £1 in parking plus negligible fuel cost - and I'm paying tax and insurance whether the car is used or not. Plus there's a limit to what you can carry on the bus.
Working in London I prefer to use buses over the tube but they have a habit of chucking the passengers off as soon as the bus gets behind schedule. The bus turns about and goes back over the route. This has happened to me a dozen times over the course of a few months and means that passengers are dumped off waiting for another following bus which - surprise - is running late and has also been turned round. Result - take a taxi.
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>baa humbug last time i was on one , there was a thing to strike your matches on , on the back of the seat infront <
Wasn't that called a 'stubber'? Well it was on Western National anyway. Not that I ever used one - which is why I can now afford (should I choose) not to catch the bus...
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