Someone said to me the other day that if nothing
else Ken Livingstone had made buses an acceptable
way to travel.

Everyone uses buses these days, they said.

Do they ? I still consider the bus as drop in
centres on wheels and would rather walk 5 miles
in the rain than use one.

What is the overall perception of them out there
in Internet land ??


--
Edward Cowling - London - UK

In message , Edward Cowling
writes

Someone said to me the other day that if nothing
else Ken Livingstone had made buses an acceptable
way to travel.

Everyone uses buses these days, they said.

Do they ?

I doubt if *everyone* does, but as someone living in a pretty well off
household in Richmond, I say that I use them a lot - except when weather
and proximity allow me to cycle (which I much prefer, particularly for
health reasons).

We have cars, but they are not economic or sensible for many local
journeys - and if I'm going into central London with the intention of
having a drink, then I'd much rather have my own chauffeur in the form
of a bus/tube driver than risk myself and others on the road.

(LT staff reading this newsgroup - your services REALLY are appreciated
by most of us, especially at this time of year)

I still consider the bus as drop in centres on wheels and would rather
walk 5 miles in the rain than use one.

Then you are astonishingly pompous and clearly cannot relate properly to
other people.

What is the overall perception of them out there in Internet land ??

Here buses run every few minutes, and right through the night, are often
faster than cars (due to bus lanes and the expense & difficulty of
parking in these parts of London) and are thus very much cheaper.

They also often give me the chance to exchange a few pleasantries with
other travellers - a degree of human contact that is not available if I
choose to pollute the atmosphere in the privacy of my car.

The fact that buses drop me within 50 metres of my door, and right
outside the stations and other places I want to visit is an added bonus
- and considerably better than driving round and around in despair of
finding some remote parking space in a dark back street at exorbitant
cost and often with the Congestion Charge added.

I applaud walking for health reasons, but if you do it at the cost of
not using a generally excellent bus system you risk denying yourself a
breadth of human contact and efficiency in your movements about town.

--
Paul Terry

"Edward Cowling" wrote the following in:


Someone said to me the other day that if nothing
else Ken Livingstone had made buses an acceptable
way to travel.

Everyone uses buses these days, they said.

Do they ? I still consider the bus as drop in
centres on wheels and would rather walk 5 miles
in the rain than use one.

What is the overall perception of them out there
in Internet land ??

I used to consider them next to useless things that were far too
complicated to understand and far too slow and infrequent to ever be
any use. But recently I've got more familiar with various bus routes
and in a lot of places buses are pretty quick and frequent, so I now
use them quite a bit. For example, they're the only sensible way to get
from Aldwych or Holborn to Waterloo.

As for the "drop in centres on wheels", that's a pretty silly thing to
say. In my experience of buses they're used by a fairly broad cross
section of society. Yes, you will come across members of the public if
you ride a bus but you'll find them anywhere else too and if you find
that such a problem you should really just stay at home.

--
message by Robin May, but you can call me Mr Smith.
Enjoy the Routemaster while you still can.

Robin May may be my name, but Robin is my first name.

"Robin May" wrote in message
.4...
"Edward Cowling" wrote the following in:


Someone said to me the other day that if nothing
else Ken Livingstone had made buses an acceptable
way to travel.

Everyone uses buses these days, they said.

Do they ? I still consider the bus as drop in
centres on wheels and would rather walk 5 miles
in the rain than use one.

What is the overall perception of them out there
in Internet land ??

I used to consider them next to useless things that were far too
complicated to understand and far too slow and infrequent to ever be
any use. But recently I've got more familiar with various bus routes
and in a lot of places buses are pretty quick and frequent, so I now
use them quite a bit. For example, they're the only sensible way to get
from Aldwych or Holborn to Waterloo.

As for the "drop in centres on wheels", that's a pretty silly thing to
say. In my experience of buses they're used by a fairly broad cross
section of society. Yes, you will come across members of the public if
you ride a bus but you'll find them anywhere else too and if you find
that such a problem you should really just stay at home.

--
message by Robin May, but you can call me Mr Smith.
Enjoy the Routemaster while you still can.

Robin May may be my name, but Robin is my first name.



London buses are excellent. I used to use it a lot when I lived in London.
Moving to a fairly small town outside London and being a school leaver
without the ability to own a car, I absolutely miss being able to go out
(basicly anywhere in London) by bus. They come frequently every few minutes
and many routes overnight. Strongly applaud London buses!

In article , Robin
May wrote:
I used to consider them next to useless things that were far too
complicated to understand and far too slow and infrequent to ever
be any use. But recently I've got more familiar with various bus
routes and in a lot of places buses are pretty quick and
frequent,

I'd hardly been on a bus in 20 years until I started working out of
an office in Twickenham town centre with numerous bus routes
outside. The service is a lot better than ever I remembered and the
stops with the Countdown indicators are a great innovation (as long
as the info is accurate): in many cases you don't mind if there's
not a bus for 15 minutes if you know it's going to be 15 minutes -
you can go off and buy a paper or whatever without that feeling
that the moment you move away from a stop the bus will come.

--
Tony Bryer

Edward Cowling wrote in message ...
Everyone uses buses these days, they said.
Do they ? I still consider the bus as drop in
centres on wheels and would rather walk 5 miles
in the rain than use one.
What is the overall perception of them out there
in Internet land ??


I live in Central London, and in the last 10 weeks have used buses on just two occasions. AFAIAC, they're uncomfortable, frustrating and slow. IMHO, it's preferable to go by Underground, by bike, or walk, depending on the journey concerned.

On Sat, 20 Dec 2003 20:11:44 -0000, "Edward Cowling"
wrote:

Someone said to me the other day that if nothing
else Ken Livingstone had made buses an acceptable
way to travel.

Everyone uses buses these days, they said.

Do they ? I still consider the bus as drop in
centres on wheels and would rather walk 5 miles
in the rain than use one.

What is the overall perception of them out there
in Internet land ??

Yep brilliant, I almost always take the bus in from Hammersmith to
London and back, the most influential reason is probably that it now
costs just 65p as opposed to £2 on the tube. Takes a few minutes
longer than the tube but not an appreciable amount, and is definitely
a better experience (seat every time, more space, better scenery
outside, better entertainment from the conductor, can hop off more or
less wherever you want, no shuffling in passageways to get to the
platform etc etc etc etc etc)

One routemaster route past my house but all the others have got new
buses now.

David Splett wrote:
Edward Cowling wrote in message
...
Everyone uses buses these days, they said.
Do they ? I still consider the bus as drop in
centres on wheels and would rather walk 5 miles
in the rain than use one.
What is the overall perception of them out there
in Internet land ??

I live in Central London, and in the last 10 weeks have used buses on
just two occasions. AFAIAC, they're uncomfortable, frustrating and
slow. IMHO, it's preferable to go by Underground, by bike, or walk,
depending on the journey concerned.

I used to have that view, and I'm still a bit reluctant to hang around at a
non-Countdown bus stop in the hope that a bus turns up. But I've become
much more ready to use buses over the last couple of years. Sure they can
be uncomfortable and slow, but so are most journeys in C-stock trains on
the Circle line. For some journeys, they are clear winners, such as Tate
Britain to Aldwych. In other cases, like Selfridges to Hammersmith, the
bus may not be faster but it's certainly easier (outside the peak anyway).
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

On Sat, 20 Dec 2003 20:11:44 -0000, "Edward Cowling"
wrote:

What is the overall perception of them out there
in Internet land ??

I use them from time to time in Milton Keynes, and really wish they
were of the high standard I find they are in London, or even better
the superb standard in most of Germany.

Thatcher and deregulation (outside London) did a lot of harm to the
bus industry. They are in reality a vital part of any integrated
public transport *system*, as rail simply can't reach everywhere.
It's in my mind a pity that London is just about[1] the only place
where this is understood in the UK.

Oh, and yes, I own a car, but use most modes of transport as
appropriate.

[1] Merseytravel are making a lot of progress, but are being hampered
by the fact that they have no control over the commercial bus services
operated in their area, mainly by Arriva.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
is a valid email address, but is sent to /dev/null.
Try my first name at the above domain instead if you want to e-mail me.

"Edward Cowling" wrote in message
...
Someone said to me the other day that if nothing
else Ken Livingstone had made buses an acceptable
way to travel.

Everyone uses buses these days, they said.

Do they ? I still consider the bus as drop in
centres on wheels and would rather walk 5 miles
in the rain than use one.

What is the overall perception of them out there
in Internet land ??

Why do so many social inadequates insist on demonstrating the fact?