Buses (and coaches).. Why? Why not?

[pwa]

I have to come clean and admit that while I do find it frustrating being stuck behind a very slow bus for mile after mile, I am not really anti-bus. I accept the need. The inconvenience they sometimes cause is just an unfortunate side effect of the good work that they do. My elderly mother would not get out and about half as much if it were not for the buses.

As for using them myself, only as a last resort. They are (from my village location) one an hour at best, start late in the morning and end early in the evening, and often don't turn up at all. And they are extremely uncomfortable and slow.

[sjs]

I like long coach trips, through the night even more so, absolute bargain as well - I've been looking at London > Bilbao for later in the year, 23 hours and £40.

During the Icelandic volcano affair of 2010 I managed to return home from a conference in Barcelona on a very rough and crowded overnight bus from Barcelona to Paris, then Eurostar to the UK. The bus ride was quite good fun, though the frequency of toilet stops left something to be desired and meant I had to abandon plans for the cans of beer I had brought along.

[sjs]

As for using them myself, only as a last resort. They are (from my village location) one an hour at best, start late in the morning and end early in the evening, and often don't turn up at all. And they are extremely uncomfortable and slow.

One an hour? In our "village" in the crowded south-east we are lucky to get one every two hours, ending at some point in the afternoon, and none on Sundays. And with reliability such that school pupils who rely on them are late more often than not. Not sure about uncomfortable though. I use them mainly for leisure, for instance returning from one-way walks, when they are usually at least half empty, and find them quite comfortable enough. Plenty of room, no need to be encumbered by seatbelts, a lot more comfortable than the walk in the other direction.

[Cyril Haearn]

Saw a bloody awful bus driver cowboy commit two offences/crimes
He pulled out instead of waiting where a cycleway had priority, a few metres on the light was read, he went over the line, blocked cycleway AND crossing simultaneously
How stupid can one be?

[Syd]

I can’t fault my local buses for frequency (Lothian Transport) but they take some incredibly circuitous routes and have stops 100m apart in places.

My work is just under 7 miles away on the other side of the city and, when I don’t cycle, I can actually run home from work at least 20 minutes faster than the bus would take*.

*assuming bus and I leave my work at the same time.

[Cyril Haearn]

Thought of riding a bus today, soon recovered, walked instead, 14 km

[mercalia]

If I ever use a bus I use some wax ear plugs to lessen the engine noise & if a longish trip drift into a nap ( same with the tubes )

[PH]

Just booked a December coach holiday, is sunny Weston super Mare. Local pick up, 5 days/4 nights, half board, 4 drinks vouchers, optional day trips to Bath and Bristol, single supplement... Total cost £124
I'd been intending a visit to the area for other reasons, it would have cost the same for a train and one nights stay in a Travelodge.

[Pastychomper]

I was largely put off buses in my yoof, the bus drivers where I lived seemed to be on a mission to encourage me to walk and I was happy to help.

Still I'm broadly in favour of buses as long as they're well run, and even use them from time to time. My most memorable trip was Inverness to Birmingham by Megabus, which convinced me that (a) said company runs a very useful service and (b) you get what you pay for in public transport.

[dodger]

My village has no bus service, but there is a train to Looe or Liskeard. The problem is that it's a mile and a half away, at the bottom of a long steep hill. Fine going down, less so coming back. The train is OK if you want to just go from looe to Liskeard or vice versa, but all the villages scattered around are totally bypassed. It would be better to have a reasonably frequent hoppa-bus service calling at the various villages and close the railway, which is nearly empty for most of the time (except summer), and needs a BIG annual subsidy.
The biggest advantage of doing this would be to free up a wonderful cycle route between Liskeard (Main line service) and Looe. The scenery is lovely and Looe, of course, is delightful.

[Vorpal]

I like busses and think that they should be better integrated with other forms of transport, especially cycling.

In Norway, I can take my bike, even a loaded tourer, on the bus, and it's quite common for folks to do so. Many busses are now electric or hybrid.

Between buses and trains, I can extend my non-car or day ride distance considerably.

[Spinners]

On a good weather week I cycle commute to work (about 11-mile each way) but if the weather is foul then I drive to the Park & Ride and use the bus so I'm using buses more than ever before in my life and really appreciate them and especially the bus lane. We really whizz past the cars!!

I have another reason to like buses. For the first 15-months of my life I lived in one and I think I must be unique on this forum in that my birth certificate actually gives my address as being "Double Decker Bus" before going on to list the road, district and town (Swansea). It's a long story (and not a tale about poverty) but the harsh winter of 1962-1963 saw the council move us into a new council house. Of course, I have no memory of this but my older sister has and a photo exists of her sitting astride Dad's BSA motorbike with the bus (complete with porch) in the background.

[Cyril Haearn]

Plus One (conditional) for double-decker buses
And double-decker trains

[fausto copy]

We've just applied for our new-style all-Wales bus passes.
We're off in the motorhome tomorrow for a few days, as Mrs.C is recovering well from her hip-op.
No cycling yet for us and I was a bit concerned what we'd be doing on a site in the relative middle of nowhere.
She then reminded me it's on a bus route, so hoping to have a couple of free rides to some wild-west towns.

[RickH]

I'm on a trip to British Columbia at the moment, mostly staying in Vancouver. I must admit the facilities for cyclists are excellent, including a bike rack, to take 2 bikes, on the front of every bus. The racks are well used.

My bike on a bus rack

If you're bothered about being able to operate the bike rack with a busful of passengers watching, there'sa practice rack fixed to a wall at the Skytrain station (at least the one nearest to where we are staying) with instructions

Practice rack