I had to travel to the hospital this week for an appointment. It had been snowing for a few days before, so I used public transport instead of taking the motorbike.
It cost me £14.90 in tickets, which is enough to fill my tank and ride about 150 miles, and it took a little over two hours in each direction, rather than about 45 minutes. I travelled for about 45 miles in total.
The first bus, according to Google Maps, stopped 43 times and only took me about half way. The second bus was much better, and only stopped seven times, and the third bus was so late that I walked the last half a mile or so and got told off for having high blood pressure 🙈
The first bus was freezing cold, and both were quite cramped with no tables, so the idea of working on the bus was out of the window before I started.
Coming home, the trains were running, so I caught a bus to the nearest station on my line, thinking it would be a better option.
The bus, like the others, had no indication of which stop we were at, so I spent the whole time checking Google Maps and looking for street signs. Google tried to tell me that the train station was underneath a bridge and in the middle of the train tracks, but was pretty good apart from that. The train was quite crowded, but I managed to get a seat.
Luckily for me, my mother was picking my kid up from school as the train was pulling in, so picked me up from the station rather than me having to catch a bus for the last leg.
All in all, I was travelling for about four hours, and had to drag my disabled arse for a mile or so between stops and stations. I genuinely envy those of you who have decent public transport systems, but I can definitely see why people don’t use them here at least 🙁
Bad public transport is bad. This is done on purpose. It shouldn’t be up to people to deal with bad public transport. It is on us to pressure our governments to improve it. When it’s better people will just use it.
We also need to make people aware of how much money car infrastructure costs. It’s mostly invisible to them, but in reality they pay a ton of money for it. Good public transport would save them money.
Oh, definitely. I don’t know how much is deliberate and how much is incompetence here though.
I’m in Wales, so we’ve had the speed limit change to 20 mph. The point was supposedly to encourage people onto public transport, but the lower speeds have slowed the buses down to the point where services have dropped from every 10 to every 15 minutes. It might not sound like much, but when you’re standing in the rain at one of the many stops without shelters, it makes a difference.
The much promoted electrification of the new South Wales Metro line has caused problems too. The train used to run on the same line to Cardiff and back, but now takes a different route to return. It now loops around Cardiff, taking an extra 30 minutes or so if you’re coming from the stations before Cardiff Central.
I haven’t been on one of the new trains yet, but apparently they’ve removed the toilets, claiming that the trains run every 15 minutes. The problem with that is, they only go to the nearest big town, Pontypridd. If you’re travelling further up the line than that, they’re still every 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the time of day.
It’s a shit show, and doesn’t seem to be getting better.
I hate you all! (not really)
I had to travel to the hospital this week for an appointment. It had been snowing for a few days before, so I used public transport instead of taking the motorbike.
It cost me £14.90 in tickets, which is enough to fill my tank and ride about 150 miles, and it took a little over two hours in each direction, rather than about 45 minutes. I travelled for about 45 miles in total.
The first bus, according to Google Maps, stopped 43 times and only took me about half way. The second bus was much better, and only stopped seven times, and the third bus was so late that I walked the last half a mile or so and got told off for having high blood pressure 🙈
The first bus was freezing cold, and both were quite cramped with no tables, so the idea of working on the bus was out of the window before I started.
Coming home, the trains were running, so I caught a bus to the nearest station on my line, thinking it would be a better option.
The bus, like the others, had no indication of which stop we were at, so I spent the whole time checking Google Maps and looking for street signs. Google tried to tell me that the train station was underneath a bridge and in the middle of the train tracks, but was pretty good apart from that. The train was quite crowded, but I managed to get a seat.
Luckily for me, my mother was picking my kid up from school as the train was pulling in, so picked me up from the station rather than me having to catch a bus for the last leg.
All in all, I was travelling for about four hours, and had to drag my disabled arse for a mile or so between stops and stations. I genuinely envy those of you who have decent public transport systems, but I can definitely see why people don’t use them here at least 🙁
Bad public transport is bad. This is done on purpose. It shouldn’t be up to people to deal with bad public transport. It is on us to pressure our governments to improve it. When it’s better people will just use it.
We also need to make people aware of how much money car infrastructure costs. It’s mostly invisible to them, but in reality they pay a ton of money for it. Good public transport would save them money.
Oh, definitely. I don’t know how much is deliberate and how much is incompetence here though.
I’m in Wales, so we’ve had the speed limit change to 20 mph. The point was supposedly to encourage people onto public transport, but the lower speeds have slowed the buses down to the point where services have dropped from every 10 to every 15 minutes. It might not sound like much, but when you’re standing in the rain at one of the many stops without shelters, it makes a difference.
The much promoted electrification of the new South Wales Metro line has caused problems too. The train used to run on the same line to Cardiff and back, but now takes a different route to return. It now loops around Cardiff, taking an extra 30 minutes or so if you’re coming from the stations before Cardiff Central.
I haven’t been on one of the new trains yet, but apparently they’ve removed the toilets, claiming that the trains run every 15 minutes. The problem with that is, they only go to the nearest big town, Pontypridd. If you’re travelling further up the line than that, they’re still every 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the time of day.
It’s a shit show, and doesn’t seem to be getting better.
Sorry, that turned into a bit of a rant…