Adventures in Public Transport

There are many great things about living in a city like London: the museums (all free!), the history, the abundance of parks, and the culture. There are however some drawbacks, the most noticeable after yesterday being the public transport.

Since I didn't have a license for a long time, I have relied on others for rides to places I need to go. I got used to learning to time my schedule around when I could bum a ride to Wegmans. I only had to ride the Tcat two or three times I think, and each time it was a disaster. Since that is the only public transport I have really taken, I assumed that stepping onto a city bus meant signing your life over to the driver.

Then I got to London. The tube is very easy to navigate and so is the bus system. I think it speaks pretty well of the organization of Transport for London (and my trusty A to Z map) that I have not gotten lost yet. I have never had a real problem getting where I need to go before.

Yesterday was the exception. The morning started badly when I discovered my Oyster card was expired when I tried to get on the bus. Robin and I proceeded to the tube station, which was closed because a water main had broken and the three tube lines I could take to get to school were flooded out. Luckily, I was able to recharge my card there and Robin and I caught a different bus to school. Almost all of the students here live somehwere on the three lines that were closed and had to deal with delays and figuring out alternate routes.

After the London Center had closed Robin, Erin, and I got on the bus to go home. We were doing really well until we got close to our neighborhood- we were four stops away when the driver started taking a new course. There were some locals harrassing the driver (while he was driving, mind you) for about 5 minutes straight. Robin, Erin, and I were sitting in the back of the bus and could hear none of what is going on. We shrugged to ourselves and waited to see what would happen.

Lo and behold, the main road in town is closed. The bus driver for some reason, feels compelled to drive up part of it anyway and then needs to turn around. Let me tell you, a big red bus making a K turn is not something I want to experience on a closed road again. So, the bus continues on its merry way, skipping entirely the stops nearest to us. Everyone on the bus is confused at this point, a little old man and a little old lady continue to harrass the driver, and the driver continues on. We keep riding farther and farther into the night and the neighborhoods start to get a little bit dodgy.

Finally, the bus stops and the scrolling sign tells us that the route is terminated. The three of us go the front of the bus to ask the bus driver how exactly we're supposed to get home from where we are, i.e. the middle of nowhere. He tells us that we can go a bus stop just ahead, but it is set back from the road and not lit at all. He tells me I will have to make an effort to flag the driver down because it is hard to see people waiting there. I look at him dubiously and he proceeds to tell me that there is a much larger station back one block and to the right. We head off.

It is a rather large, well lit bus stop, with a scrolling sign telling us when we can expect our bus to arrive. At first glance it would seem great. That was until the two drunks started harrassing each other and threatening to call the police on each other. Needless to say, I was glad I hadn't taken Andrew and Mike up on their offer to come over to their place for a bottle of wine, since I would have been doing this trip alone. Finally, our bus comes along and we get back home. By the time we got home, Robin was singing The Wheels on the Bus. She had snapped.

For those of you planning to come to London or any other big city:
Public transport can be wonderful, and certainlycan be an easy way to travel.
Sometimes it is not.