regarding my not being able to drive...

[KellyHabersham]

*just something I need to get off my chest.....mostly based on comments various family members have made about me and transportation.*

Please get it through your head that taking the bus is NOT the quickest, most convenient way to get around. It often takes much longer to get somewhere than it would by driving, and it sucks when you have to wait for a bus which is late or doesn't show up, especially during the summer at stops where there's little /no shade. (some routes aren't so reliable) Unless YOU are willing to stop driving and occasionally experience this stuff, then please shut up about the "joys" of riding the bus.

I also don't appreciate to be made to feel like a mooch if I need a ride somewhere......some of the reasons I don't drive are NOT under my control, and I really don't feel that I should "have" to kiss up to people just because they can drive and I can't. And please stop saying "I know" if I comment on having to ride the bus, because you don't know.....YOU have other choices for transportation.

[Ginger Tea]

Where I used to live it was half hour away from Manchester via bus and I had a frequent direct route supplied by 2 identical routes (they only mattered on the way back as one went to one suburb and the other, well an other.
Then I also had a fall back of one that swung by my brothers on an arc (never actually mapped it, but it felt like one) and eventually merged with the main route that in all had 10 different routes going up the same road for 40-50% of the journey.

Normally I would never have an issue with said service, but I had a concert to get to and left work on the dot shift lead knowing I couldn't stay for the tonne of overtime available and waited and waited and waited.
For a route that lists 10 minute wait times I was there for over half hour and missed the support act, who eclipsed the woman I went to see in popularity the following year catching only his last song.

Then there was the first bus is listed at 05:30 at my stop yet never showed till closer to 6, so I had to get my shift start time set at 07:00, which came in handy seeing as I was still there at 3 and able to cover if the 2pm guy called in sick or was running late.

Now as I said, half hour by bus, 4 or more hours walking (did a fair few Saturday night Sunday morning sobering myself up walking home instead of £20 or more on a taxi).

Yet. It took me nearly as long to get from my house to the retail park to pick up my PC and the distance was far less, I normally cycle so anything covered by the A-Z is do able, you can argue most of it is down to traffic infrastructure and I will agree that Cambridge has low density roads for most of the busses route in the town centre itself.

But sometimes the bus HAS to wait at certain stops for a few minutes and this has caused me to be on the bus (from near my work to the science park based regional college where I was doing and evening class) for nearly an hour.
Break at Tesco (all guestimated between 5-10 minutes), break at Addenbrookes, break at the rail station, break at the city centre, then relatively plain sailing towards my destination. I can spend 20+ minutes sat in an idle bus where I am used to being that many miles out so very quickly.

[Nekojin]

When I lived in Las Vegas, I used the bus for most of the time that I lived there. One of my jobs was at a 7-Eleven across town - only about 5 miles away, as the crow flies. If I'd had a car, I could have driven it in 15 minutes, tops. By bus, it was an hour-long trip each way, two hours gone from my day with nothing to show for it.

Even when I worked on the strip, a mere three miles away, it was a half-hour ride each way. Busing, even at its best, is no substitute for even a good bicycle, much less actually having a car or motorcycle of one's own.

[KellyHabersham]

I have to admit that part of my rant last night comes from the fact that the weather is warming up here, and so when the bus is unreliable, it gets additionally frustrating having to wait. And my mom just does NOT understand that because she doesn't have to experience it herself.

[MrsEclipse]

I worked about 4 miles from my apartment doing taxes in 2011, and I couldn't drive so I walked. It took an hour. The people I worked with asked, "Why don't you save time and take the bus instead of walking?" Then I pointed out the bus routes between my home and that particular office, which took about 58 minutes.

I'm honestly surprised at how highly people think of the bus.

[Aethian]

I'm honestly surprised at how highly people think of the bus.

I'm not. If you average out the amount paid in insurance, registration, gas, repairs, ect of the car and put it to how much the bus costs in time and money you usually come out even or sometimes better.

[Nekojin]

I'm not. If you average out the amount paid in insurance, registration, gas, repairs, ect of the car and put it to how much the bus costs in time and money you usually come out even or sometimes better.

Financially speaking, you may be right. However, the stress and time shouldn't be ignored. Other people on buses can be downright scary.

[Aethian]

I wasn't ignoring them Neko, in my area the buses aren't that bad. In Mom's area the bus drivers have quite a bit of clout to kicking troublemakers off. I know in some areas it won't be like that but I can't, myself, add that into the equation.

[Andara Bledin]

Another thing that shouldn't be ignored is that buses run on their schedule, not yours.

With a car, you can decide you want to go somewhere, get in your car, and go, with maybe a check of a map or a stop for gas.

With public transit, you have to determine what route to take, whether you have to transfer, if the transit actually goes to where you want to be, and whether they'll still be running when you're done with what you want to do. You have to remember to have your pass or fare handy, and you generally can't take more than you can carry.

[HYHYBT]

I wonder if part of the problem is experience? What I mean is this: the vast majority of the time I've spent riding that type of bus was when I was a student at the University of Georgia. During the day, each route ran about every five minutes. (The pretty well had to; you couldn't get from one end to the other within a class change without taking the bus.) Yes, if you had to take one at night it might be half an hour, also about the time it took for most routes to loop back to the starting point, but most of the time when most people used them, they were both convenient and the fastest way to get around.

Someone who had a similar experience, didn't otherwise use buses themselves, and hadn't really thought about the subject considering longer routes, longer stops, longer time between buses, and of course not having the fare included as part of the fees paid during registration every quarter might well have a more positive view of them.

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

I have to admit that part of my rant last night comes from the fact that the weather is warming up here, and so when the bus is unreliable, it gets additionally frustrating having to wait. And my mom just does NOT understand that because she doesn't have to experience it herself.

I had the opposite problem in Canada in the winters. Waiting 20 minutes for a bus in 30 below weather with a wind chill of god knows what is NOT fun. Then when you get off the bus, you still have to walk ten or so minutes in the cold to get home.