Call Them What You Will
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Call them what you will: motor coaches, public service vehicles, people wagons, or simply buses; they are essential to our lives and our daily grinds. Whether we hop on a bus to go to work, for a night out on the town or simply for pleasure, as I do, I feel we often have the wrong impression of them.
Long gone are the clattery, unreliable bangers of old. Today we’re graced with buses fit for the 21st century, furnished with all the facilities of the modern commuter. From Wi-Fi and sockets, to unsettlingly impersonal-sounding next stop announcements and even tables. Yes, tables. I’ll eat my hat!
The engines are quieter, more refined and typically quite a bit cooler too. Now it’s actually tolerable to sit on the back seat, without fear of sustaining a third-degree burn. Modern designs usually include a plethora of windows as well, often where you’d least expect them, designed to allow as much light in as possible and create a much more refreshing space to sit in. New technology too has made its way into the public transport world with tickets now available to be purchased online or on your phone to help speed up boarding. In many ways buses have been the subject of a transport revolution; around the country buses have reinvented themselves to compete with the train and even with the plane, where the luxuries that come as standard on many of our newest buses still come at considerable expense.
And that’s not mentioning the first-rate fares that under 18s and students can benefit from. For the benefit of the most frugal amongst us, in the North East, it’s possible for under-16s to travel for just £1.10 a day, and it costs as little as £1.80 for your journey to school and back for under-18s.
Sure, buses still have their problems: the routes still trawl for miles around pointless housing estates, perhaps picking up maybe one old woman if you’re lucky; some of the drivers still seem as though they’ve just awoken from hibernation and, of course, it won’t do any favours for your image either – did James Bond ever ditch his Aston Martin and jump on a bus? No.
But if you can put all that to one side, and probably some time too, then maybe catching the bus is right for you. Even though your mates might have the bragging rights when they speed past you in their souped-up Subarus and clapped-out Fiat Puntos, at least you can be sure they’re not charging their phone, eating their lunch or updating their Facebook status, all while smashing your high score in Candy Crush too…