Got my Bus Pass today - Free Travel for over 60's anywhere in Scotland.
I have a son that lives 15 mls south of Aberdeen and from my home to his takes 1hr 45min - 2hrs normally keeping to speed limits - mostly Dual Carriageway 120mls or so.
How long by bus - according to Travelonline it will take 6 hrs 41 mins......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Bus to Edinburgh, wait, bus to Dundee, wait, bus to Aberdeen (passing the my destination), change @ Aberdeen for a bus 15 mls back in the direction I have just come from
I rest the case for the private car.
|
|
FB - I'm not sure that anyone's suggesting a bus for a 120 mile trip is always best. They are good for shortish trips to town centres, if they run frequently from/to a convenient stop.
|
|
|
I have a son that lives 15 mls south of Aberdeen and from my home to his takes 1hr 45min - 2hrs normally keeping to speed limits - mostly Dual Carriageway 120mls or so. How long by bus - according to Travelonline it will take 6 hrs 41 mins......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
A bit of an extreme example there :-p
I use the bus all the time to go to uni. Takes longer than using the car, but costs a fraction by the time you factor in parking costs.
|
I live 10 miles from Cambridge. Decided to cycle last week. Mrs Dipstick neither cycles nor drives, so she is on the bus.
To cycle in - 45 mins to one hour (ok, I've not done it for years). Cost nought pence. Hurrah.
But Mrs D is on the bus - takes one hour (cos it goes all over the place first) and costs £4.50 return. Boo.
Quick calculation of petrol costs for lazy bloke's 3 litre car - costs £3.50 return for the both of us in petrol, 30 minute drive (cos of traffic).
Tricky decision, eh?
We really need an attitude from authority that says
1) The cost of cars is huge in pollution, congestion, time, hassle, accidents. (We seem to have this one already)
2) Therefore it will be cheaper to make public transport, in some circumstances, actually free.
|
"Quick calculation of petrol costs for lazy bloke's 3 litre car - costs £3.50 return for the both of us in petrol, 30 minute drive (cos of traffic)."
Buuzzzzzzzzz
Wrong answer dipstick < slap > ;)
Petrol costs is not the total cost. Work out your pence per mile, (petrol, insurance, insurance, road tax depreciation) then add your parking charges in cambridge, and then come back and tell us what the total cost is.
Whats the mantra of efficient public transport? INTEGRATION
Bus, train, car. Large out of town car parks with good RELIABLE bus links, stations with cheap RELIABLE trains and large car parks. Cars are reliable, convenient, but very expensive forms of transport. MAke public transport reliable and convenient and most of us would shift from cars.
VOte for me.
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
|
Petrol costs is not the total cost. Work out your pence per mile, (petrol, insurance, insurance, road tax depreciation) then add your parking charges in cambridge, and then come back and tell us what the total cost is.
Well, the government's trying to encourage car owners to use buses more. As a car owner, I'd already be paying road tax, MOT, insurance, depreciation etc, and I'd park on a backstreet somewhere (I don't live or drive in a city). Therefore I'd consider that my only additional cost for making each individual journey is petrol.
|
|
|
Whats the mantra of efficient public transport? INTEGRATION
Like when they changed the type of carriages on the Newmarket Cambridge line that our boys travelled on to school. They used to cycle to the station, pop their bikes in the luggage bay, then cycle from Cambridge station to school.
With the new train, only allowed to take 2 bikes and - IIRC they had to be booked in advance!! - result a lot of kids parents drove them in instead, and so did a lot of commuters who had previously gone by train and bike.
So much for INTEGRATED transport!!
Our solution was to buy a second cheap, old and scruffy bike which was kept at Cambridge station, never got nicked but one had the wheel bashed in on one occasion.
|
|
|
"Wrong answer dipstick < slap > ;)
Petrol costs is not the total cost. Work out your pence per mile, (petrol, insurance, insurance, road tax depreciation) then add your parking charges in cambridge, and then come back and tell us what the total cost is."
Yes, I appreciate that of course. But that assumes that I would not own a car at all. Once I have it, then most of those costs occur whether or not I drive it anywhere. As it's not conceivable NOT to own a car at all (for me) then I might as well factor those out of the equation, as I'm paying them anyway, whether I bus or car or bike or roilerskate.
If you see what I mean.
Actually, if I had to have the perfect choice of transport to work, it would DEFINITELY be the log flume. I think they're brilliant, and would be ideal for commuting.
Without the drops. Probably. Although...
|
|
|
Whats the mantra of efficient public transport? INTEGRATION
Absolutely correct. Sad fact of the matter is that the North East (well, Tyne and Wear at least) had this. From 1980-1986 all buses and Metros were integrated, with routes and times which meant easy changing between modes and routes. However, someone decided deregulation was a good idea, and the whole thing went to small coals, with passenger numbers falling ever since. Even so, the North East still has the highest public transport patronage outside of London.
As always, when this is discussed, there are a few people which need to be treated like rare eggs (IE in a sterile environment and kept at an air conditioned 25.6 degrees C). Once someone has cracked the logistics of Public Transport, there is the important task of changing peoples attitude....good luck to them
|
|
|
|
|
Buses are great until you need one that goes somewhere that has a population of more than 5 people.
I used to have to get 4 buses a day when I was at school. Wasn't really any great hardship - I had a bus pass and I would have been knackered without them. But bearing in mind I was a young kid and needed by sleep, I had to be standing at the bus stop at 6:25am. Then wait in the town centre for 40 minutes, then get another bus up to school and then wait for an hour. No other way around it.
The journey home wasn't too bad but often I'd only get home at 6. That doesn't sound too bad but when all your other mates are getting home at quarter to four.....well - I was made up when Mum started there - put it that way.
THis new house we're in - well - if you wanted to get a bus to school (where Mum still works and where my sister went until July), then it would take you 3 and a half hours to get home. How long does it take in a car? 20 minutes tops.
I know we're probably the exception rather than the rule but we can't use the bus. It's as simple as that.
I can't remember the last time I used a bus - probably 2000 or thereabouts. But having used them every day for 4 years and having a car now, I can't see me ever using one again.
Dirty (inside and out), smelly (inside and out) and full of questionable characters with even more questionable hygiene. Although I'm willing to concede that could be just where I live.
|
"Dirty (inside and out), smelly (inside and out) and full of questionable characters with even more questionable hygiene. Although I'm willing to concede that could be just where I live."
Crikey Adam, if your car is that bad the bus must have been dreadful.
|
:-)
The buses were driven better though.
|
|
Buses are great - for other people to use.
|
|
|
|
Depends where you live. In central London buses are fine. In Luton they are awful. Work is a 2 mile journey. By car, it take between 8 and 15 minutes. By bus it takes 10 minute walk to bus stop, wait for bus, 20 minutes by bus, 5-10 minute walk from bus stop. So maybe 45 minutes assuming the bus is on time. And those walks might be in freezing rain. It was as bad in Sough. Plus the bus is often full of noisy squabbling children, and there's usually one morbidly obese person with acute BO who sits next to me.
Oh yes, and congestion is made worse in Luton by bus lanes, which are usually empty.
And buses stink something rotten. If you've been on a push bike behind one, you'll know what I mean. They do ~5 mpg if I recall correctly. So compared to my Ford Ka that does 40mpg, you need 8 passengers in a bus to make it less polluting than my car. Or 16 if I have 1 passenger. Usually they have no more than a few, except at peak times.
|
|
I haven't stepped foot on a bus (apart from car park courtesy buses at events and shows) for about 10 years, and would only do so again if my car, bicycle or legs were out of order. All three would be preferable choices of transport as far as I am concerned.
|
I think buses are the work of the Devil....... Last bus I was on -many years ago had an old boy behind me coughing his lungs out , you know that sort of death rattle coughs and sneezes that start from somewhere down by the ankles .......ending with phlegm flying everywhere -Nice NOT.
Far be from me to tell you what to do Leif but if my work was two miles away and I had the choice then I could easily walk it in half an hour so why hang around waiting for a bus if its going to take 45 minutes?
A lovely brisk walk will warm you up in that freezing rain.
|
|
|
|
Work is a 2 mile journey. By car, it take between 8 and 15 minutes. By bus it takes 10 minute walk to bus stop, wait for bus, 20 minutes by bus, 5-10 minute walk from bus stop. So maybe 45 minutes assuming the bus is on time.
How slow do you walk? I can do a mile in about 15 minutes.
|
How slow do you walk? I can do a mile in about 15 minutes.
Me too. It takes me at least 40 minutes to walk it so it is a bit more than 2 miles which is a bit far for me, plus the walk is along busy roads, dual carriageways etc with car/bus fumes and noise so it is not pleasant. But for years I did walk the 3 miles to and from work each day along the A4 in Sough until I learnt to drive at the age of 35.
I would cycle (used to cycle from Alperton to South Kensington each day) but the drivers in Luton are dangerous and I don't have the nerve. (Two recent near head on collisions with cars driving the wrong way down a one way street is typical. One expected me to reverse my car to allow him to pass.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Got my Bus Pass today - Free Travel for over 60's anywhere in Scotland."
Actually, its not free, it's paid for by me and you and others.
As for myself, at 79 I do not even know how to get one (nor do I care). In fairness I should get cheap petrol!
|
In fairness I shouldget cheap petrol!
Superb, made me laugh out loud did that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
