Getting into town

On Thursday I decided to take the bus into town rather than driving. I thought I’d compare these two transport alternatives using a number of factors.

A return bus fare into town costs £3.00. A little steep, I thought, but on further consideration perhaps it’s not so bad. By car, I’d travel about 5 miles from home to where I normally park- a 10 mile round trip. I’ve been trying to work out how much this costs in petrol and it seems quite difficult. I can’t find a quote for “pence per mile” for the Nissan Micra we have, but I found one for the most recent model: 33ppm. Assuming this figure isn’t too inaccurate, it costs about £3 in petrol to make a trip into town and back.

Even if my estimate is too steep, there are still parking charges to take into account. I was in town on Thursday for over 2 hours, which would have cost £2.40 in the car park. I could’ve stayed until the last bus out of town at no extra cost.

Then there’s the relative hassle of each method. Obviously a car can get you exactly where you want, when you want. However, a bus makes the trip between my road and the town centre every 20-30 minutes, and I don’t have to find somewhere to put it when I get there. It was also quite nice to be able to read a book and not worry about traffic- the journey itself was a lot less stressful.

I think journey times for the two methods are roughly the same, at 25 minutes or so, especially when parking time is included.

I appreciate that some people value the privacy and comfort of travelling by car, and I can’t argue with that. But public transport has its upsides too. I forgot to collect my change from the driver and another passenger alerted me to it, which gave me that warm “aren’t people nice?” feeling. On the journey home, I was sitting near two girls who gave me some info on violence at their college and the current trends in piercings. They were talking very loudly- I really wouldn’t call it eavesdropping. I was also sitting on the upper deck which gave me a lovely view.

I suppose travelling by bus might prove difficult if you bought something really huge. With a car you’ve still got to carry it to the car park (unless it’s from John Lewis), but once you get home it’s easier to get it inside (depending on the location of your nearest bus stop of course).

Last, but definitely not least, is the fact that using public transport saves the planet a bit. This issue is very important to me (as those who know me are no doubt aware), and it’s becoming increasingly recognised. According to Walk It (a brilliant tool which claims only to work for London but actually does anywhere if you know the postcodes), the car journey produces around 3kg of CO₂ and the bus journey more like 1kg. I figure the bus would’ve been making the journey anyway and I can’t have weighed it down much.

Right, I think I’ve pretty much exhausted all factors. Any other suggestions would be most welcome. I think I’ve counterbalanced my initial “yikes” at the bus fare :o)