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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To love being a bus wanker?

55 replies

DaftJelly · 17/01/2017 12:28

I recently lost my driving licence due to Bipolar and qualified for a free bus pass.

I HATED it to start with. I have dreadful anxiety and found the whole thing horrendous. I hadn't caught a bus for about fifteen years and didn't have fond memories of it.

But after a few months I've settled into it. I get the bus into town three or four times a week. I chat to the (mostly elderly) fellow travellers, most of whom are lovely with fascinating stories. I get to look out the window at the beautiful countryside. I don't have to worry about filling up with petrol or remembering when the MOT is due.

I'm such a convert that I'll be right there on the frontline protesting when they inevitably want to cut the village services further.

Anyone else a bus wanker who loves it?

OP posts:
Narnian · 17/01/2017 16:47

The Liverpool equivalent of the Manchester 192 is the 10A. It wouldn't be out of place in Royston Vasey.

SheFeedsYouTeaAndOranges · 17/01/2017 16:48

Ah the 192 was my bus 20 years ago...

Original poster
DaftJelly · 17/01/2017 16:48

Purple, several suicide attempts. My psychiatrist told me that either I surrendered it or he'd write to them and they'd take it off me.

OP posts:
SmashingInAthleticWear · 17/01/2017 16:48

I live in London and oooh I love the buses. Prefer them to the tube, so long as I've got plenty of time! Top deck, front left seat, if it's free - lovely.

Hated them when I lived elsewhere though - always sodding late!

ButteredToastAndStrawberryJam · 17/01/2017 16:49

I thought you were going to be a bus wanker that spoke loudly on your phone or had your music loud.
I quite like the bus too, stressful when it's busy though. I like going on coach trips other than driving too, you can sit back, relax, think and like you said enjoy the view.

AlpacaPicnic · 17/01/2017 16:53

I love the bus! I'm happily a member of the Bus Wanker club.
I have a supposedly short commute to work to an unpopular area of town that is currently taking a lot longer due to my local authority and their 'throw-a-six-to-start' attitude to roadworks...
I pack a breakfast sandwich and a book and sit on a nice quiet bus and read for up to an hour before I have to start thinking for the day. If I drove I would arrive frazzled and stressed and hungry. I'd probably have crashed my car due to the Mad Max style driving that it seems to take to get anywhere. No thank you!

Andrewofgg · 17/01/2017 17:39

Is that not discrimination taking your car off you because you have bipolar

People see the D-word everywhere, don't they? No, it's not. Just like if you have uncontrolled epilepsy or you lose your sight.

TiggyD · 17/01/2017 17:44

I was a park and ride bus wanker today. Upstairs the had table booths things and in the centre of the table was a contactless phone recharge pad. There were UBS points and a curved banquette. The bus journey wasn't long enough to really enjoy it.

Purplebluebird · 17/01/2017 17:45

Oh that makes sense then OP. I haven't had one of those since I was 15, so it shouldn't affect my driving. Besides I'm too anxious to drive anyway, so it doesn't matter to me! Do you think you will get it back after a period of being stable? Hope you feel better now.

MyVisionsComeFromSoup · 17/01/2017 17:50

I don't qualify for a bus pass as I'm not ill enough according to the DVLA - they'll give me my licence back if I'm symptom free for three months, except the latest consultant I've seen says that he can't give me a diagnosis of any particular thing as my symptoms don't fit any condition box, and so he can't say when I'll be better. Hoping he puts that in a letter so I can re-start my fight with the council Sad

michelle303 · 27/04/2017 21:47

I'm a bus wanker everyday to and from work Grin I hate it and love it at the same time. There's so many different types of people on a bus and the majority annoy me!

There's always someone, no matter how early it is who is really loud on the phone, i like to try and catch some z's before the hard days graft but these perky morning birds like to disturb my routine :P

wasonthelist · 27/04/2017 21:50

I drive some days but get a bus once a week (not the same route) - I love the views - especially watching all the people doing different stuff in their cars and on other busses.

BarbaraofSeville · 27/04/2017 21:53

You've obviously never been late for work or taken hours to get places a 20 minute drive away or waited in the freezing cold and rain for buses that don't turn up on time.

The bus service in our city is so awful that I feel really sorry for anyone that has to use it regularly, especially for daily commuting. I can't imagine the stress of needing to get to work on time using buses that miss more often than run on time.

Mysteriouscurle · 27/04/2017 21:59

I have a friend whose motto is "mrs mysteriousfriend doesnt do buses" I dont get it. She drives her car to work every day. There is a bus stop practically next to her house and it goes direct to her place of work and she is old enough to travel by bus for free. I love going on the bus. You can't mumsnet undertake important research when driving. I look on it as down time

BitchQueen90 · 27/04/2017 22:03

I don't drive. Never learned, never wanted to. And I don't use much public transport either - my work, DS's nursery and the shops are all within walking distance.

I usually take the train if I go to the city centre. I'm a train wanker. Grin

allowlsthinkalot · 27/04/2017 22:39

When I pass my driving test I will never catch a loathsome, unreliable, overcrowded, time consuming and hideous bus again.

SmokeCloak · 27/04/2017 22:48

I quite enjoy taking the bus to work.Free WiFi so I can piss about on the internet on my phone for the journey.

glueandstick · 27/04/2017 22:53

Hell no. Glad you enjoy it but for me it's my own form of hell.

I like the peace of my car, the lack of other people and that it is clean. Give me my own little bubble any day. That and when it's pissing with rain I don't get wet standing around for a lifetime followed by a long walk at both ends.

glueandstick · 27/04/2017 22:54

I will however get buses on holiday if necessary. That's part of the experience I feel.

PinkCrystal · 27/04/2017 22:59

I used to share a car so used buses a lot but we now have 2 cars and life is so much easier. Buses are ok and I use them sometimes but there is all the hanging about, having to chat, rowdy school kids etc. I guess depends how far you are from bus stops too. Only stress is parking with driving.

sonlypuppyfat · 27/04/2017 23:03

The buses by me are so bloody expensive my son went to college 4 miles away it was £10 for a return ticket! Now that is a rip off

gardenparty · 27/04/2017 23:09

I've never heard that term before OP Grin. I've always lived in London and never bothered learning to drive. I love my Freedom Pass too. I usually look at the internet on my phone or just look at the London scenery and people watching from the top deck. And the tube in London is far quicker than driving through slow traffic.

It is a bit annoying when the bus doesn't turn up for ages or the driver randomly decides to stop halfway through the route - but it makes the sting slightly sweeter knowing that at least I haven't paid for it.

KatherinaMinola · 27/04/2017 23:12

Like PP, I'm SO glad this thread title was metaphorical...

bluetongue · 27/04/2017 23:15

I thought from the title that maybe you'd be like the guy who sometimes takes my bus that plays the same random notes on the harmonica over and over again. Wanker indeed.

Driving to my job in the city in the day would be equal measures is expensive and stressful so no qualms about taking a bus for me.

PickAChew · 27/04/2017 23:26

YANBU.

DS1 is a certified bus wanker, right down to being able to tell his B7s from his B9s and I've spent so much time joining in with him that its all second nature to me, too. I can tell a Euro 6 Wright streetlite from a Euro 5 one by the engine sound.

DS2, despite being severely autistic and barely verbal is joining in. he just goes in for the easiliy obvious branding, mind and doesn't care whether his arriva Sapphire is Streetlite or Pulsar (but does know what route it takes and spends hours virtually travelling it on google masps).

I'm the only woman on a regional bus wanker forum.