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On the buses
Its finally happened – petrol has become too expensive for me to use the motorbike for commuting anymore, so I’m back on public transport. Which, given where I live and where I work, means getting the bus each day.
The last time I regularly used the bus was about 12 years ago, when I used to do the reverse of the journey I’m currently doing. In many ways, nothing has really changed; buses are still uncomfortable for someone of my size (not enough leg room, seats too narrow), bus drivers are still pretty much a bunch of miserable gits (but then so would I be with that job) and bus passengers are, on the whole, a weird and motley bunch.
Back when I used to get the bus all those years ago, I didn’t have any transport of my own. I had no need of any – I only lived about 15 minutes walk from the office, I was right in the town centre so could go shopping without any problems and I was well served with buses and trains, both at reasonable prices, if I wanted to go to the larger towns in the area or up to London. Then the company moved towns and for a while I commuted by bus, before buying my first property and moving to within five minutes walk of the office. During the the years that followed, I bought my motorbike (still the only vehicle I’ve ever owned) for purely recreational use, and when the company moved again (back to the original town) I decided to use the bike to commute.
I hate commuting. That’s why I’ve always tried to live as close as possible to where I work, and that was a good plan all the time I was living in rented accommodation. But once I bought my flat, everything changed. It becomes much harder, much more wrenching, to just up sticks and move each time your job changes location when you have to worry about selling your property, finding a new one in your price range and location, etc. Even if I wanted to, I can’t afford to move at the moment, although with the way property prices are tumbling that may change.
And so it has been for the last three years or so, but once petrol hit £1.10 per litre (about £4.95 per UK gallon – or roughly $11.70 for a US gallon) it became more economical to go by bus. Taking it just on petrol, I’ll save about 50p per day when petrol is at £1.10 – but at the moment it’s at £1.16 in this area. And if you factor in wear and tear on tyres, insurance costs and road tax, I’m making huge savings by not using the bike. If petrol goes over £1.20 – which is looking increasingly likely – I’ll probably get rid of the bike altogether.
There are other issues to consider, as well. I’ve noticed this week that I’ve been arriving at work in a much more relaxed state that I do when I travel by bike; the big problem with riding a bike on the daily commute is that car drivers tend to still be asleep at that time in the morning, so they’ll pull out without looking or indicating, or they’ll try overtaking the car in front when you’re already using that piece of road, that sort of thing. A more relaxed me – I’ve had plenty of time to wake up, I’ve had a brisk walk up the hill (another plus – I’m getting some exercise for a change) to get the circulation going, and so on – is probably welcomed by my colleagues so the day goes a bit easier.
Then there’s the environmental question. The bike isn’t particularly polluting when in use, but when it’s parked up in the garage it does not pollute at all. The bus would be running anyway, so I’m not adding any pollution there, and it might as well run with a decent number of passengers. After all, the more people that use the service, the more economical it will be for the company to run it, and hopefully ticket prices will stay down for as long as possible.
So, all in all, I’m not too unhappy to be on the buses. Of course, I may think differently when the weather changes…
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