Yesterday I had to go to Oldway Mansion in Paignton which is a 15 min bus ride on the 12/12A. The 12/12A runs every 7 or 8 mins during the day and the bus stop is only 3 mins from the house. So at most it should have taken no more than 28 mins even if I had just missed a bus. It took over 40 mins. 3 mins down to the bus stop, 25 mins waiting for the bus and 15 mins bus ride. To make matters worse, after waiting 25 mins for the bus, 3 of them turned up at once. The problem? Road works in Newton Abbot.
Waiting for a bus is the worse part of using the bus instead of owning a car, yes I know bus fares in Torbay are not the cheapest in the land but then I don't have to pay.
There is of course two parts to waiting for a bus. The bit where the bus has arrived and the 10 people in front of you are boarding the bus. The first gets to the hallowed position by the driver and digs around in side her bag for a return ticket. Everyone behind is now standing in the cold and damp expecting to get on the bus NOW. How can it take so long to find a ticket. What are they talking about? Are they discussing if God exists and is he/she a bus driver? The next person moves forward. How can it take so long to find the money. The next person has their ticket ready, the driver punches it and we all move forward. At last we're get on the bus.The next person, who has been shaking his head and tuting and clicking teeth all the time during this wait now reaches the driver. "How much to Torquay?" On being told £1.85 he digs around and find 27p in change which he returns to his pocket and then spends about 19 years trying to find his wallet. Don't people always keep their wallets in the same pocket? You know; the last pocket they look in!
Eventually we all get on and watch the same process carried out at all the stops to Torquay. I really do love bus driving.
You get to the bus stop and there are a few people there, this means you haven't just missed the bus. So you wait with hope in your heart with the anticipation of the appearance of the bus round the corner at any moment. I am not sure how long it takes for the feeling that maybe the afore said appearance may be a little delayed. This feeling is soon changed to maybe a lot delayed when you remember the 20 mins you spent in Newton yesterday waiting at the temporary traffic lights just out side Shereborne Rd.
The journey back was slightly worse. As I came down from Oldway Mansion and onto the main road 4 buses went by heading for Torquay. I hate standing around waiting so I started to walk. An other bus went by when I was no more than 50 yards from the bus stop. I should have known better. Evenually after standing (I really do hate standing up, I became a bus driver because you spend almost all of your working life sitting down) at the next bus stop for 10 mins a bus came and I got home over 2 hours after leaving home.
Every bus driver should do something like this now and then so they have a taste of what it is like to be a passenger, sorry customer.
It is still easier than having a car and having to drive to Paignton and find a parking place and then drive back and find a parking place some where within walking distance of home, not a likely event when you live close to the town centre.
No comments:
Post a Comment