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.

Utterly bonkers. Where I live has no public transport but when I was in Edinburgh it was much faster to get the bus than trying to park the car. Hardly anyone I knew owned a car just a city car club membership.

We often catch the bus - far more convenient for us and our buses are frequent. The bus stop is at the bottom of our road.

I know lots of drivers who sneer at people who get public transport. they are also the same about walking - lots of them won’t even walk round the corner to the shop!
I even have a colleague whose car needed work doing they said they couldn’t come to the office because they couldn’t get there. They could have got there, they just didn’t want to use public transport.
And then they complain about the traffic every day 🙃
I don’t understand it all but then I don’t particularly like driving and I don’t want the cost of my own car so I share with my oh.

£55 per month here (less if you buy a year upfront)

Yanbu. Living in a city, public transport makes so much sense. I've lived rurally too, and a car there was pretty much an essential - but parking was free and public transport wasn't great. Now where I am, just outside a city, public transport is very affordable and much easier than driving and then having to try to find a parking space

Or a bicycle indeed

Yes but bus prices outside London are way more expensive and even less likely to be something poor people would be able to afford? I could travel for an hour in London for £1.65. for a return fare of a few stops on some essex routes it's £5.20. I know which of the 2 routes poor people would be using more often.

YANBU and she's being utterly ridiculous.

Weird enough to think it let alone voice the opinion so derisively. I once got "told off" for saying I lived "in the flower scheme" apparently people would think I was "schemey" ?!?!

It was a nice street in a nice neighbourhood where at least half of the homes were privately owned. Not really sure what I was meant to be ashamed of?!

I commute by bus even tho I have a car. Commute into city is £75 a month by bus. Double that at least for petrol and then £200 pm on top of that for parking.

It's a no brainer and more environmentally friendly.

Your relative is stupid

You can have a great time taking the piss out of her insecurity, next time. It’s amazing she’s prepared to admit to that, even if she’s thick enough to think it.

Thatcher supposedly said that anyone who took the bus over 25 can count themselves a failure, that’s where she got it from. Trains and planes are aspirational, buses aren’t. It never made any sense, but it belongs to another era now. It’s the greenest option anyways.

I take the bus all the time because don't have a driving license. Like you , it's a straight line from home to work , my husband drives the car and drives me everywhere otherwise. Im under 50 but when I don't take the bus, I also walk around with a shopping wheelie thing. Whoever funds me cheap, poor etc still cannot figure me out because I work for a nice company and wear pretty clothes. Sigh

I loathe getting the bus (at least in London anyway as it's always completely rammed) but I would definitely ride it work if I had that option. I love the idea of just hopping on the bus outside my house and jumping off at work. It beats the 10 minute car drive, 50 minute train journey and 10 minute walk that I have to do I'm quite jealous!

She sounds like an utter snob, and I would be embarrassed to be seen with her given her silly snobby, views.

In the summer I walk anywhere that's up to an hour's walk and save on the bus. Ask her what she thinks of me :D

The opinion of idiots isn't worth taking on board though, is it?

Love buses

I can't drive due to Disability. I hate catching the bus, mainly because of the crap service not matching the timetable and because I can't guarantee that I'll get a seat.
Not looking 'disabled' means if I do sit in front seat, I get looks and tuts from other people.
Even waiting at bus stops is fraught, if i do get a seat on the weird uncomfortable seat-type thing, there's a big chance i will miss my bus because unless someone is standing with arm outstretched, and nobody's getting off at my stop the driver wont stop.

Some drivers seem to drive too fast approaching stop and I ont see them until thehre really close.
if i can't get up quickly enough to stick my hand out, even though they see me, they've not left enough time for me to hail them So just drive on by.

Bus travel is extremely stressful for me and if I had more financial independence or if we had a more reliable train service I wouldn't use the bus at all.
Taxis are like gold dust now, even if I could afford them, due to school runs and taking the place of the many cancelled buses.

Finds me cheap instead funds me. I should say whoever finds me cheap should fund me but they wouldn't , would they?! Because if their only happiness is to gloat how rich they are and how poor the poor are, I'm sure God has a place for such spiritual ugliness in the afterlife.

I love being on the bus, in the bus lane, sailing past queues of traffic.

How old is she? 10?!

What a ridiculous thing for an adult to mock. She needs to grow up

She’s an idiot and also killing the planet for the rest of us.

If you can take public transport or walk/cycle you should. It’s 2023 not 1983, we should know better.

It’s outrageous that people are priced out of this choice in some areas of the country.

YANBU I get the bus every day it’s more
convient for me the bus stop is just over the road from I go everywhere on the bus I plan on learning how to drive this year but when I can drive I will still use the bus I only pay £17 a week for a bus ticket. Your relative sounds like a really shitty person there is no shame in getting the bus.

Buses here (rural South East) are more expensive than driving, stop at 6pm and don't come at all at weekends. We're actually moving next year partly because of this and one of my criteria for new area is decent public transport.

I'd love to be able to take a bus to work. I could read/scroll MN instead of driving what's not to like?!

OP, your sister is a twit.

Another benefit is on a bus I get to read my kindle

Didn't Thatcher say you were a failure if you used a bus over the age of 26?