Only poor people get the bus…

[EmpressOfTheSofa]

..I was told yesterday by a close relative. In the context of mocking me.

I get a bus to work. My bus stop is literally outside my house and ten minutes later it drops me off outside my work. I pay £70 a month for this.

If I drive to work it costs petrol plus £135 a month parking fees, and the closest two car parks are each a ten minute walk from work. It also takes longer to drive because of the one way system/bus lanes. It’s a no brainer.

But I got roundly mocked and told she wouldn’t be seen dead on public transport.

This was in the context of her admiring a new item I’d bought and I said oh funnily enough two separate ladies at the bus stop have also complimented it, she then shrieked with laughter and said there’s a weird contrast between having an expensive X and then getting public transport and that I probably look like a weirdo. That the only people who use buses outside of London are poor people who can’t afford to drive.

She’s bonkers, right? And a tad nasty? I’ve been stewing on this for a couple of days and shouldn’t let her rile me but ffs.

OMG.. I have a car but if I am going into town I always catch the bus. I have a Metrocard as I am over 60. It makes no sense to drive in and park it as it all costs too much money.
The only thing I am embarrassed about is the horrible photo on the card. It makes me look ancient😚

Most LAs this is at State Pension Age, not 60.

Personally OP, I would tell her she needs to wind her neck in as she is showing her inner dickhead!

I get the bus but often these days it's actually cheaper to get an Uber once kids reach the age you need to pay for them on the bus.

People who get the bus get the bus...

Personally I cannot stand buses: they stink, they're unreliable and they're extortionate compared to driving for me. It would cost me more in bus passes for my family, and we would be considerably restricted in where we'd be able to go/access, without our car.

I’d just ignore anyone saying anything so daft.

Pre COVID I used to go to a group piano/keyboard class. I have a car which I can easily afford to run but I always took the bus, because a) it was free (bus pass), b) buses are very frequent here, and c) it saved all the faff of trying to find somewhere to park. (Never easy nor free in the area.)
Most of us arrived by bus.

One of the group - a bloke so laid back he was practically horizontal - enjoyed saying now and then to all of us, ‘Buses are for losers!’

To me he was the loser - although of bus pass age he was paying for parking!

Whenever we go away in England we use our bus passes rather than use the car and pay for parking. October last year we used our bus passes and saved £30 which paid for a nice meal out.
We were brought to believe if you look after the pennies the ponds will look after themselves.

Silly relative 🙄

Shout out for West Yorkshire here, I have a car but I take the bus whenever possible £4.50 to go anywhere, all day. £2 single any length journey.
No stress. No parking, reliable and fun.

Buses are rammed most of the time, zero tolerance on any harassment, I've met some amazing people on my travels.

I live out in the sticks, can drive but don't enjoy narrow country roads. I only recently discovered this bus snobbery! I love our local bus. Efficient, affordable and stress-free. Even when I owned a car I'd prefer to take the bus.
My teens love the independence of catching the bus, as do we as parents as can't ferry then around forever!

The bus was more expensive than the rube in the ‘shires! I’m a regular user and was seriously looking into getting a bicycle or electric scooter.

Its a snobby point of view but actually reveals that she's not that posh herself. I've worked with a few people who are upper class and they are very abstemious and would happily get the bus or public transport in preference to driving or getting a taxi. Just start calling her Hyacinth Bucket!

I think you missed reading the word ‘suitable’ in that post.

A failure at what though, in their minds? Ricky Gervais doesn’t drive and I’m pretty sure he isn’t a failure. Ok he may not get the bus (or he might) but he is unable to drive his own car. His partner, who is a very successful author, also doesn’t drive and she’s definitely not a failure either, so no car between either of them but a self made fortune of around £200million between them. So other than ‘failing’ to drive it’s not a measure of anything.

It was in one person’s mind and that person was a comic writer who was born in 1905 and died in 1958.

His comical saying that anyone seen on a bus over the age of 30 was a failure etc was nicked by the former Duchess of Westminster, who was born in 1902, to laugh at her own predicament after her divorce in 1947!

So nobody ever said, without their tongue firmly in their cheek, that taking a bus after the age of [insert number here] made you a failure.

Even in the tongue in cheek context it was said in the 1940s so Ricky Gervais need take no umbrage.

Narrow minded and ignorant comments from your relative. DH and I take the bus when it's the best option. We're definitely not poor 😁

I'm a long time driver and car owner but get the bus everywhere. The city I work in is anti car and you can't park anywhere anyway. The bus takes the stress of that away.

I do get the bus to work.

I can drive (and sometimes have free parking).

The bus is between £35 and £65 every 4 weeks depending on which service you use (I do the £65 as there’s 3 busses per hour rather than just 1 on the £35 service)

I won’t lie it’s been hateful over the cold snap, and I’m often frozen before getting to work and then frozen on the way home.

But, it’s still a butt load cheaper than driving every day. And @EmpressOfTheSofa if your sister in law were to ask, yes I can afford to drive. I just prefer pissing about on the internet to driving.

Her comments are silly.

In some areas people use buses because it's cheaper and more convenient. Obviously it's (mostly) more environmentally friendly, too.

However it depends where you are. In some areas buses cost so much they are not a good alternative to a car, if you have one. Or are so infequent and unreliable or slow that again, you'd only use them if you had no other choice. So I suppose in those circumstances, the general demographics of most users would be different, to in a city where they are frequent and cheaper because they are more economically viable for the company to run properly.

I hate buses, or any kind of public transport, and only use it when there is absolutely no other option. But that's because I'm autistic and so are my children, so the stress of the uncertainty about whether it will show up or run on time, the busy environment with all the other people on it, the temperature and awful lighting etc makes me so exhausted that by the time I get off it I'm already so exhausted I need to go home, as are my kids. Add in sometimes not even having seats available when I have a hidden physical disability which makes having to walk to or stand at bus stops or train stations in the cold horrific, or often impossible... it's just not practical, at all. It's torture.

So while I agree your sibling's attitude is ridiculous and what you're doing makes perfect sense, for all those claiming how "relaxing" and "easy" it is to travel on public transport, please realise this is not the case for everyone. Some of us really need our cars. The whole "public transport good, cars bad" simplistic mentality is just as narrow-minded as what the OP's relative said to her.

I'm looking on some of your replies and I’m jealous. £1.65 per bus fair? I wish. Now all buses tickets are £2 by the end of the month, but usually… 10 miles to the nearest city, £4.4 one way, with unreliable bus service car is more necessity than luxury.

@PollyEsther · Today 11:27

People who get the bus get the bus...

Personally, I cannot stand buses they stink: they're unreliable and they're extortionate compared to driving for me. It would cost me more in bus passes for my family, and we would be considerably restricted in where we'd be able to go/access, without our car.

What a sweeping statement to make ! I don't know where you live - in some ghetto perhaps? The buses where I live are not like this

I'm not disagreeing with you and your experience is valid. My point was it's not so shocking that people would come to that conclusion if the majority (not all) of people would rather have a car than not. I think that's a reasonable assumption as 75 to 80% of households chose to buy a car.

Does she pronounce her surname "bouquet", even though it's spelt "Bucket"?

My DSIS once said the same to me and called the bus a peasant wagon.
I drive but think nothing if getting the bus. I also live in a big city so wouldn't even think about driving to work. Everyone gets the train or bus.

Your relative is a twat and apparently has no problem broadcasting her twatery. I wouldn’t be offended by her comment, I’d pity her.

Was she 10 at the time or is she generally a bit stupid?

I hated driving. I gave it up and have never regretted it and take the bus if I need to, though I always use the train first if it’s an option.