Why drive when you can catch a bus?
Being stuck in a stuffy Saxo in rush-hour traffic on my way to the city centre office where I work from Monday to Friday often urges me to consider using public transport. Afterall, it is much more environmentally friendly as all the promotional material reiterates over and over again. However, when I weigh up the pros and cons, there are reasons why I keep getting into my Saxo and paying the ridiculous petrol prices.
A consideration that must be taken into account is the current demand for accurate timekeeping. I am expected to be
in work for 9am. If I could rely on public transport to guarantee that, having planned my journey appropriately, I would arrive, as expected, at 9am, I would relax and enjoy the journey to work, safe in the knowledge that I am not going to have to face my boss red-faced and out-of-breath having ran from the bus stop to make it in before 9.30am. However this is not reality; if I am going to be late and, more importantly, take responsibility for being late, I would rather be stuck in a traffic jam behind the wheel than at a bus stop staring at my watch, wondering whether a bus is actually going to show up.
An obvious perk of using public transport is the lack of discrimination against those of us who have not perfected the art of being able to lose our car on the streets of Manchester or against those of us who cannot afford the overpriced car parks. Another perk, close to my own heart, is the freedom from worry if you wish to have a few drinks after work with your colleagues. However, with the rising prices of public transport and the length of time that is usually added to the journey, one is inclined to drive home and have a glass of wine with dinner rather than chasing around Manchester and its surrounding areas to get home, just in time to cook the dinner before the watershed!
Being a young female, I have been brought up to be aware of my surroundings and avoid putting myself in a situation that might lead to me being on my own in a dark area at night. The threatening nature of bus stations, used as a shelter for young people with nowhere else to go, is intimidating. Theoretically the “Greater Manchester Transport Police patrol these stations”. Do they?
With the Nightbus bringing me home from Manchester after a long night out, if I arrive safely without having witnessed a fight on the bus, or having had a drunken sleazy older man try and make me get off at his stop, I arrive at the bus station to find the buses back to my house have stopped running. It is a twenty minute walk, do I risk it and walk alone or pay £5 to get a taxi? This is a question I shouldn’t have to ask.
Until buses and trains are safer, more reliable, less expensive and have an extended network that runs 24 hours a day, the demand and use of public transport will not rise. This of course means that transport companies cannot afford to improve their service. Until someone finds a way to break this vicious cycle I’m happy to drive in my Saxo!
Author: Su Lewis
A consideration that must be taken into account is the current demand for accurate timekeeping. I am expected to be
in work for 9am. If I could rely on public transport to guarantee that, having planned my journey appropriately, I would arrive, as expected, at 9am, I would relax and enjoy the journey to work, safe in the knowledge that I am not going to have to face my boss red-faced and out-of-breath having ran from the bus stop to make it in before 9.30am. However this is not reality; if I am going to be late and, more importantly, take responsibility for being late, I would rather be stuck in a traffic jam behind the wheel than at a bus stop staring at my watch, wondering whether a bus is actually going to show up.An obvious perk of using public transport is the lack of discrimination against those of us who have not perfected the art of being able to lose our car on the streets of Manchester or against those of us who cannot afford the overpriced car parks. Another perk, close to my own heart, is the freedom from worry if you wish to have a few drinks after work with your colleagues. However, with the rising prices of public transport and the length of time that is usually added to the journey, one is inclined to drive home and have a glass of wine with dinner rather than chasing around Manchester and its surrounding areas to get home, just in time to cook the dinner before the watershed!
Being a young female, I have been brought up to be aware of my surroundings and avoid putting myself in a situation that might lead to me being on my own in a dark area at night. The threatening nature of bus stations, used as a shelter for young people with nowhere else to go, is intimidating. Theoretically the “Greater Manchester Transport Police patrol these stations”. Do they?
With the Nightbus bringing me home from Manchester after a long night out, if I arrive safely without having witnessed a fight on the bus, or having had a drunken sleazy older man try and make me get off at his stop, I arrive at the bus station to find the buses back to my house have stopped running. It is a twenty minute walk, do I risk it and walk alone or pay £5 to get a taxi? This is a question I shouldn’t have to ask.
Until buses and trains are safer, more reliable, less expensive and have an extended network that runs 24 hours a day, the demand and use of public transport will not rise. This of course means that transport companies cannot afford to improve their service. Until someone finds a way to break this vicious cycle I’m happy to drive in my Saxo!
Author: Su Lewis
Manchester iJourno Group
posted by iJourno at 10:33 am
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