Getting the Bus
Understanding Why Public Transport is Good For Everyone
She was a middle aged lady who barged on to the bus waving a slip of paper at the driver and then sat down. The driver got out of his cabin and ordered her to get off. Her ticket wasn’t valid. I’m not even sure it was a ticket at all. She refused to leave. Unable to do much more without physically removing the woman, the driver said the bus was not moving while she was on it. This prompted the typically silent majority of other passengers to groan and begin confronting the woman. She protested — in unconvincing terms — that she needed to take the bus to get somewhere but did not have the money. No one was having it. Eventually, realising she was defeated and going nowhere, she stood up, swearing at all of us, and got off.
We drove on.
Roundabouts are tricky as a bus. Despite being an unarguable force for most vehicles, pulling away from a standing position takes a lot longer. Not a luxury most motorists afford other road users. If there’s a gap, they will enter it. Buses, consequently, wait longer than usual and eventually simply have to barge onto a roundabout when a visible — if not practical — gap appears, and whoever is on their way around must slow down to accommodate the giant double decker that rears obstinately before them.
