On the rare occasions I use public transport I remember why I usually don't

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Packed to the gills despite it being very late at night, drunks, no working toilets, filthy, seats too small, migraine inducing lights. Still got half hour to go.

Vive la car

You sound nice.

Just got off the train from Haverfordwest to Swansea because my car is in the garage. Had a really nice journey - ended up chatting to a group from Loughborough who had also had car trouble and were trying to get home and somehow thought they needed to change changes much earlier than they did - convinced them they needed to swap at Cardiff and we got the conductor to confirm it (because I was 99% sure but he obviously would know better than me!) I guess it depends on your train and your time of travel. I personally think that public transport is a godsend for so many people but we need to vastly improve the network and the infrastructure overall.

London public transport is amazing. You should try it up north!

YANBU we went into London last Saturday for a show , I used to drive and park but the 20mph limits everywhere make it so unpleasant that I drove to the O2 and got the tube from there . It was very unpleasant and I’m amazed at how many people have obviously never heard of showers , deodorant or washing machines .

I’m a lifelong Londoner and have always commuted to work on public transport.

These days 99% of journeys involve some twat blasting out the volume of their phone, and if you move carriage someone else just does it. Buses in south east London have long had appalling passengers - I used to get the bus from the centre of London home, during the day, and as soon as you crossed the river the clientele nosedived. Shouting, arguing, general
obnoxious behaviour - and it’s been like that for the whole 21 years I’ve lived here so I rarely catch a bus anywhere these days.

But the phone thing is the worst - and it’s across every single demographic.

Would dark glasses help?
Seems a bit vulnerable behind a total blackout mask.

Yes same here, life long Londoner, even though I dont live there any more, grew up on public transport because my mum didnt drive but for those that dont know, (until recently) south east London has been ill served by anything other than slow buses, which barely came. Commuted by public transport for about 30 years before moving out.

My mum lives in central London and works near Buckinham Palace for over 30 years. From the early 2000s until 2023 she used to see Karen Buck, the Labour MP for Kensington north, boarding the 52 bus from Victoria train station to Notting Hill several times a week!

She wasn't the only politician my mum's commuted alongside, either. There were several Tories (whose names I cant remember now) who were regular bus/tube users too.

If someone on an MP's salary of 85k plus expenses was happy to commute to/from work every week on a 'poverty chariot', then safe to say the snobby twat upthread has no comeback. Plenty of 'wealthy' people use public transport. Noel Gallagher uses the tube loads and he's worth over 50 million!

I don’t actually agree that we’re ill served - where I live the station has 4 different lines going through it (including the Overground), 3 of which are consistently air-conditioned. So I’d rather that than be stuck on the tube in north London! 🤣

I’ve long been convinced that one of the main problems with buses is that their drivers are undervalued and underpaid compared to train drivers. Just think for a minute about what we expect of bus drivers. They have to manoeuvre a big vehicle through heavy traffic, taking care of the safety of passengers. They deal with payment as you board. They have to keep to a timetable and negotiate traffic issues. They deal directly with the public and all that entails (enquiries, rudeness, aggression towards them and other passengers, disabled access issues etc).

Yes, many I’ve encountered have been a bit unhelpful but frankly, I’m not surprised in the circs. Absolutely no criticism of tube drivers but they have always earned more than my (university academic) husband for doing far less than the bus drivers

Train them and pay them properly, and/or reinstate conductors to lessen their load.

I would use public transport more often if it was more frequent. I prefer train travel to driving and don't seem to get the horrible passengers that other posters do. My issue is the unreliability of Northern Rail and Trans Pennine "Express".

I go to York quite regularly- weekend from 5 onwards home is constantly full of drunk folk - but worse is the lack of room and that’s both journeys. Trains overbook massively and it’s only standing room as the 10 people next to you are holding you in place. This is what I don’t like mainly.
So for a big treat, and a good deal, I booked 1st class for a trip away to Liverpool - no bloody seats for half the journey, rammed in normal carriages and it was dire. On the way back I got a seat but only as I caught it from its originating station as halfway back it was over full again - causing difficulties getting off, getting bags down - not what I’d expected at all and very disappointing. Except I won’t again hanker after first class I guess!
I like the train when there’s seats and working toilets - but they are mostly a big let down - I use them as it’s cheaper and saves parking problems specifically only for York - and to avoid motorway dusk driving now I’m old. But it’s really not fit for purpose and doesn’t encourage me to rely on it ever, nor use it for general trips.
I live in a city that had just the best buses 50 years ago, but now that’s as dire with increased fares for not enough buses that barely actually go anywhere beyond city limits regularly.
I plan to win the lottery and get a chauffeur.

So for a big treat, and a good deal, I booked 1st class for a trip away to Liverpool - no bloody seats for half the journey, rammed in normal carriages and it was dire.

That's Trans Pennine "Express" for you. They never have enough carriages on their trains.

Bus wanker here

It's getting worse because the public transport system is a private company, state subsidy mess

People in rural areas barely get one bus a week and that's because there would have to be legal proceedings to shut the entire route down, same with trains - ghost services are a train spotter's dream

Suppy meets demand and with fewer and fewer people needing to commute to work on a daily basis, bus services get withdrawn, causing a decline in bus usage, causing more withdrawn services and so on

Privatisation of essential infrastructure was just about the most stupid thing the Tories did

Sure, there were issues with state services, but privatisation made everything a thousand times worse with dividends going to shareholders and bonuses to the bosses

Water, Gas, Electricity, Health Services and public transport - all creaking at the seams and no possibility of any government sorting this out

None of that addresses the huge rise in anti-social behaviour on buses and trains, though. That’s just purely down to people being self-absorbed, anti-social fuckers who think that just because they can do X means it’s fine to do so.

And never trust Avanti West Coast!

Aaaarrrrgggghhh - the times they’ve let me down.

Congratulations on not being poor. Well done you.
With all that time you save taking taxis instead of buses you must have plenty free to work on not being such a judgey prick.

It’s fine

it’s expensive and too slow/unreliable

That is such a sneery and patronising post isn't it. It says more about the poster than bus passengers.

Why are people taking that seriously, lol.

I said until fairly recently it has been ill served, Im talking about when I was growing up, lucky if you're too young to know but I can tell you it was awful trying to get anywhere, doctors, dentist, college etc

If only! The North isn't lucky enough to have anything near the public transport enjoyed in the Capital. Lots of "the North" doesn't even have public transport at all in the evenings, let alone overnight, and barely anything on Sundays!

Nowhere near as bad as the nationalised Northern Rail or Transpennine Express who both seem to take delight in not providing a working service.

It’s just British public transport. Parents live in Hong Kong and I love the public transport there. Very clean subway trains that come every 2 min with aircon. Ever fairly remote places are covered by buses and mini vans. I felt safe even taking it fairly late. Surely London has the population density to do better. We aren’t talking about smaller cities or rural England here.

As a child I grew up near Hull and the busses were awful. Loads of people smoked weed on them, really bad anti social behaviour. I now live in the south west and get the bus to work sometimes and it’s much better. No one is smoking, people move for disabled people/ prams and everyone just keeps themselves to themselves.