Am I the only one who actually enjoys travelling by bus? People can be so negative about it!

[Wisteriabloom]

For context, I can't drive. I'm dyspraxic, (not everyone knows this), have struggled through a lot of lessons/tests over the years, to find my spatial awareness & hand/eye co-ordination just isn't up to it. I obviously found this frustrating, but accepted I'd never be a driver back in my 20's, I'm in my 40's now! So public transport is second nature to me!

I work part-time, 3 days a week somewhere that is half an hour bus ride away. (Bus stop is only 5 mins from my house). It's fine, I get on the bus, coffee in hand, and arrive at work 10 mins early. If it's been a particularly stressful day (sometimes it is!), I'm glad of the half hour ride home, just to gaze out of the window and de-stress!😀

My parents live 20 mins away by bus (coastal route, bus stop 5 mins away from their house). Nice easy journey.

Town is walking distance from us, but sometimes we like to go over to a City Centre, approx 40 mins train journey. (Dh does drive, but likes a day out without worrying about parking) so taking the train is an easy option!😀

I don't generally mention how I get to places, but if a driver knows I've caught a bus or train they seem to pity me/say how awful it must be🤔 It's really not, and I feel quite patronised at times!😲

Obviously if time is short/emergency/stuff to carry etc I'll take a taxi, and have done at times, but generally find public transport works fine for us! Do any other non-drivers have this issue?

I live in London so travelling my public transport is totally normal / a necessity - but definitely prefer the bus to the tube even if it takes a little longer.

I have been known to take the dc to a local birthday party venue by bus (seconds walk to/from the bus stop both ends and a direct straight road) as it shakes it up a bit, saves parking stress and it starts to teach them a bit of independence (I’m hoping they will be happy independent bus travellers well before they can drive). Parents are generally aghast when I do it and tripping over themselves to give us lifts home. They can’t believe one would travel on a bus by choice. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t!!

I don’t drive either. I just cannot. It wouldn’t be safe, I’ve tried and two driving instructors washed their hands of me. It’s not something I’ll ever get to grips with. I’m perfectly capable in lots of other ways and I have a post graduate degree and I horse-ride, I can do lots of other things. Driving will never click for me.

I live in London so it’s never been a problem here, I spent most of my twenties abroad and it wasn’t expected or necessary at all.

I don’t love public transport but I walk a lot and have no problems getting from a to b. If I can ever afford a horse as my hose if transport that would be a dream!

My boss (I’m a nanny) knew full well I couldn’t drive when I took the job and I don’t need to as they live very centrally, but has lots of little digs about it being something I ‘have’ to do, and I ought to ‘get on with it’ and it’s an ‘essential life skill’, and it’s ‘holding me back’.

I smile and nod because I hate getting in her car, she’s the worst driver I’ve ever been a passenger for. Also, she doesn’t know that I know that she crashed a hire car straight out of the airport into a tree on her last holiday. (No one was hurt, but it was a very expensive mistake)

I like buses! No trouble with parking and often quicker in rush hour than driving. I don’t know why they have such a bad rep!

Live central london. I absolutely love buses. Not been on one since before first lockdown as have restricted things to walking and a few Addison Lee’s etc.
Love everything about buses except safety for women and esp at night. By that’s men and men’s policies etc.

It can be great if you have a functioning public transport network.
Unfortunately, we dont near us. DH has to justify a work car parking permit each year. He cant physically get to work on public transport (would need to catch the last bus at 8pm to START going to work for 9am the following morning). It's a 30 min drive.
My 20 min drive would be possible, but a 90 min journey combining busses and trains.

The other thing that used to be really difficult was getting a weeks worth of shopping home on the bus. It's really hard to carry enough food for 4 in one go. Used to fill he with fear on the occasions I needed to do it.

YANBU. I don't drive either, but even if I did I think it would still be easier to get the bus/train most places than have the stress of driving, parking etc. But I live in a city where public transport is good.

I love the bus. I get on a nice red double decker regularly between work sites and I sit up top and at the front if I can and enjoy the view/ journey. I also enjoy my daily tube commute too ( although it is getting busy again now, last summer was a dream)

I am on a bus now. It's moving at snails pace. Stinks of dope and lynx deodorant. Earlier someone was eating fried chicken noisily. I know a whole tale of a woman and her dodgy landlord thanks to her loud phone call. By some miracle no one is listening to loud music on their phone or making random high pitched squeeling noises (teen girl speciality).
I lurve the bus......

Fine in London. Crap where I now live. Bus takes 40 minutes for a journey I can do in 15 minutes by car/ uber. Never use buses for that reason.

I'm in London and it can sometimes take an hour to travel about 4 miles by bus

I like buses! I miss living somewhere with a good bus service. Prefer trains, but buses are good too.

I also found that some people get shocked and aghast and repeatedly offer you lifts “so you won’t have to get the bus” if they know that’s how you’re getting somewhere. I’m sure it’s kindly meant, but the bus is cheap and convenient I can sit reading my book in peace so I’m really fine, thank you!

I'm probably dyspraxic and don't drive - I hate the bus though :-(

I share a car with my dh, but I hate driving. Dh used to cycle everywhere until I decided not to drive for a year. It was his choice. I did change my mind when the pandemic started and we needed the car for click and collect.

I just handed my keys to dh and said I will only drive when necessary or he really wanted me to.

Everything dc related we walked to and I only needed one bus to get to work. It worked out cheaper to just uber places we randomly needed. Dh insist we need the car (only use for it is currently to pick up click and collect orders).

Council has decided to get rid of more parking space because of covid?!? Making driving more unappealing.

Did I mention I hate driving and I only got a licence to please mother? She didn't have a licence and it was very difficult for her to learn later in life so she pushed all her children to get one as soon as they were legally allowed.

We live in London, we don't need a car. We were happy living without a car until dm got into dh head and convinced him to take driving lessons. Before I knew it, her friend was selling her car for a very good price and dh bought it for us with dm help.

You sound like you live near an amazing public transport system.

Our nearest useful buses are at least a 30 minute walk away. There's a semi-useful bus route 10 minutes away. That used to be closer but they changed the route.

Not far from a train station though - again about 10 minutes walk away but only one train an hour, often cancelled and we're the last station on the route so often train is too packed to let anyone on! (Pre-Covid anyway). Sometimes coming in the other direction(when we're the first stop) if the train is busy they'll ask everyone going to our stop to get off...because they won't stop at our station!

So we have an unreliable, expensive, not useful and complicated public transport system.

We walk, cycle or drive everywhere. We often trip chain (plan lots of stops in a car journey) or park and stride/park and ride.

4 buses a day where I live between 7am and 7pm - these go through villages to the nearest large town (14 miles away). If you want to go to the local town (4 miles away and home to the local doctors and supermarket) you can go on a Thursday provided you can leave at 9.30 and catch the bus back at 12.30.

I think it depends where you live and how good the network is. I’m north west in a village - our local network is crap. It’ll take me 2 hours to get somewhere that is a 25 minute drive. Throw 2 kids into the mix, and nah, I’ll drive!

Thank you, I feel I've found my people, happy fellow bus riders!😅

Yes Golden Omber, often I've been offered lifts (kindly meant I know), but to me, a window seat upstairs on the bus, watching the world go by or leafing through a magazine, is far preferable to sitting in someone's car being lectured about being a non-driver! Not everyone does this but some have🤔 I find it so rude, I don't judge people on their lifestyles, and don't like it when others do!

To me, a bus or train journey is relaxing, NOT a chore!!

I think it depends on where you live and if you’re used to driving. A lot of drivers dislike losing their own space and being on something that just.keeps.stopping! Also, if public transport is poor, buses are not so good.

I live in an area with excellent public transport, near Brum, and like you am medically unable to drive. I love just getting on a bus and leaving it to the driver while I chill out to radio or reading (or both).

Unless I am on a dodgy bus. I try to learn the dodgy routes and times so I can avoid them.

We love public transport, trains trams or buses. We are happily car-free now and it was a brillianet change for us.

I’m in the same position - spent years learning to drive but just can’t do it. We live in a village, so life would be a lot easier if I could drive, but we have reasonably frequent buses and trains to most of the places I need to get to, and a taxi budget.
It’s fine, but it makes it much more noticeable and embarrassing that I can’t drive than it would be in a city where even drivers use public transport by choice. I was waiting at the bus stop after school last week to take my children to the doctors, and a school mum spotted me and was absolutely godsmacked. “Are you waiting for the BUS?!” she said, as if she’d never seen such unlikely behaviour l. She honestly didn’t mean to be rude (I know her quite well), it just hadn’t occurred to her than anyone other than teenagers would use them.

Perhaps the public transit situation is better where you live. It’s non-existent where I live now, but when I lived in the city, riding the bus was awful. I was assaulted at a bus stop. The buses themselves were often so overheated I got dizzy. If I was lucky enough to only need a single bus, It still took 2-3 times as long to travel as it would have by car. Getting a connection left you sitting at a random stop hoping some crazy person didn’t decide to assault you.

I felt slightly better taking local trains because at least stations had security and never left you standing on random street corners hoping your next ride would show up.

When I go into the city now I get taxis. I wouldn’t get on a bus unless I was in a group for safety or it was an extremely short trip with no connections.

Paspourmoi - Yes, people can react that way, sadly. I've actually been laughed at in front of my kids for taking the bus. If our neighbour who lives opposite sees us coming back from somewhere she'll often ask how we got there. If I say the bus she laughs in my face😲 I try to avoid her!

Drivers - Please don't laugh at us or act shocked, it's VERY undermining!

I don’t drive and haven’t taken a taxi for years as it’s too much hassle with small DC and car seats. I get everywhere I need to go on a daily basis through a combination of walking, buses and trains. DH drives though, and I think it would be a bit limiting if neither of us did because of things like day trips and UK holidays where public transport isn’t always an option.

I would like to say despite my negative comments upthread I am a bit of a bus nerd - I was taking photos of a fancy painted route 38 bus (London) the other day and do like a nice bus rally of old buses once in a while.