I never used to take the bus in Paris. Ever.
Ok, maybe only if I had (a lot of) time to loose because basically hopping on a bus in Paris means you are certainly going to take much much much longer to get from A to B than if you simply got on the metro. Everybody knows that contrary to their name, bus lanes are also used by taxis, scooters, velibs, ambulances, police cars and the occasional (read: every other) private vehicle.... You could fairly say that the bus system in Paris is the ugly duckling in the otherwise pretty efficient RATP family.
But I love taking the bus in London! So much so that ever since I moved here I have barely taken the metro - or tube - at all. The bus system here is well organized, the bus lanes are respected and the huge number of different bus routes that reach out to every corner of the city make it a downright pleasure to hop on a bus, go on up to the second story, sit down and enjoy the ride.
I am really lucky too because our apartment is only 6 bus stops away from my office so in theory it takes me 15 mins to get to work in the morning, stop lights and all, without ever having to step foot in the metro.
In theory.
My only problem with the bus system in London is that the users are too polite during rush hour!
Since arriving here, I've noticed that during peak hours, when a bus is too full and the last passenger is standing next to the bus driver's seat, he wont let more people on. This I completed understand for safety and security reasons and I am happy to wait for the next bus if this one is already full.
My beef is that a lot of the times the bus isn't full, yet people won't walk all the way to the back of the bus or scrunch up a bit in order to let more passengers on.
It's been two months of frustrating trial/error experimenting to figure out exactly how much time I need to factor in my commute to get to the office on time, and so far all I can tell is that it really depends on if the passengers have moved to the back of the bus or not!
Sometimes I'll see the 7th semi full bus in a row drive away with the driver refusing to let more passengers on because there is still people standing next to his seat (while the middle of the bus or the upper deck is relatively empty) and it makes me wish the brits would take a page from the book of the French and not be afraid to push and shove a little.
I mean c'mon!! We all want to get out of the rain and cold in the morning and hop on our commute to be on our way! Yes, I too don't like it when the person standing next to me is breathing down my neck or his briefcase is shoving me in the back, but you don't have to go that extreme and yet it is basic common sense to get on and avancez to the bloody back of the bus so that more people can get on!
I am not kidding when I say this is quite often the case in the mornings. Four different routes stop at my bus stop and take me to work, which roughly means a bus comes by every 2-3 minutes which could potentially pick me up and have me sitting at my desk 15 mins later. And yet, because of the "no shoving and pushing in the red vehicle" unspoken policy, I usually find myself waiting in line (yes, we queue at bus stops here) for 30mins before I get lucky enough to hop on one!
I know what you're thinking... "so just walk to work Fned!!", right? I am trying to get in the habbit of doing that but it's just too tempting in the mornings to know that it wont take long to get to the office and stay a little extra time under the warm blankets, meaning that as those of you familiar with my legendary inpunctuality have probably already guessed, I am usually rushing out the door with exactly 15 mins to spare..... not enough time to walk there, but just enough time for the bus to get me there....
....... si seulement les gens avaient la gentillese d'avancer vers le fond !!!
Photo: Bus Blur by Hubby
Fned.
No comments:
Post a Comment