September is ‘Catch the Bus Month’ – and I believe that there are many reasons why we all should, from the rational to the romantic
Catch the Bus Month: I’m on board!
September is here and as the leaves turn brown and gold, the nights draw in and the county cricket season meanders to a close, we do, at least, have something to cheer. Yes, of course, it’s ‘Catch the Bus Month’ – a celebration of all things great about this wonderful mode of transport! Accordingly, I thought I’d do my bit, by giving you 10 reasons why I absolutely love travelling by bus…
1. Simplicity supreme
In this world of relentless complexity, frenzied activity and ‘dog eat dog’ behaviours, I crave simplicity. The concept of a vehicle that trundles down a road, picks up people and takes them where they would like to go, for as little as a couple of quid (and sometimes less), with the opportunity to gaze from the window whilst someone else carries the burden of driving you, is a blissful retreat to a bygone era of simple, uncomplicated pleasures.
As I’ve said before, I can think of few more enjoyable experiences than switching off my wretched phone, supping a can of coke, sucking on a packet of sweets and enjoying a ride on a bus. Last week, I heard a stat that 40% of elderly customers make a journey just to chat to people on-board the bus. Whilst that’s yet another great positive that buses bring, I also love being alone on a bus – I’m delighted I don’t actually have a bus buddy who travels around with me. A trip on a bus is, for me, my special time of reflection and contemplation, like no other.
2. Communities unveiled
A unique selling point of travelling by bus is not just the view it provides of stunning scenery, but also the more ordinary, everyday landscape – the housing estates, crescents, boarded up High Streets, medical centres, bog-standard recreation grounds and much more – the kind of fabric that constitutes the lives of all of us. The bus penetrates the heart of communities. Yes, a car can find its way round these places, but the reality is that of your own volition, you won’t, unless there is a specific reason to do so, travel to the many places served by a bus.
The bus makes seemingly trivial cul-de-sacs and side-streets important, those routine, run-of-the-mill places that become lynchpins on a transport network, well known to all, by becoming key points on a bus route. In the same way that a railway station, representing a town, village and entire community, a key bus stop can lodge in the public’s consciousness by dint of its presence on map. It’s a great sight, looking at a big, brilliantly branded bus, sitting at some nondescript turning point, deep in an anonymous residential area, waiting to enter service. It looks as if it feels almost privileged to be allowed to be there, in the heart of a community, with kids playing in front gardens, folk mowing their lawns, and neighbours leaning over fences to gossip to each other. Yet these small turning points, lay-bys and street corners are, in totality, areas of strategic and tactical importance for the commercial and operational plans of each transport company.
The beauty of bus travel is also that it is so instructive. Hand on heart, I genuinely believe that my grip on the intricate socio-economic and demographic nuances of different parts of the UK is stronger than most other folk, simply because I am so well-travelled on buses. I see not only the view from the window, but observe life going on around me whilst waiting at bus stops or looking round the bus itself. You don’t get it in this unique, granular way whilst travelling by train and if you’re thinking of studying sociology, my advice would be not to bother with a textbook or the internet, but just get on a bus for a few days – you’ll find out everything you’ll need to know, and some.
3. A spectator sport for cats
I’m a massive lover of cats and if there’s one thing that reinforces the simple pleasures of bus travel and everyday life, it’s the sight of cats. So many trips are made more enjoyable by sightings of cats gawping smugly at the bus from their snug beds in lounge or bedroom windows, or sitting all regal-like on top of garage rooftops, or protecting their territory beside the front garden gate. Every bus route feels like it is under the watchful eye of a cat, checking on punctuality and reliability, a traffic commissioner’s feline friend. It’s a grounding reminder that for all the machinations, stresses and strains of modern-day business life or all the travails of society played out on social media, of riots, recessions, politics and wars, our nonchalant cats just get on as if nothing is happening. They are like buses; they just keep going, whatever pandemonium is ensuing elsewhere.
A trip on a bus is for me, my special time, of reflection and contemplation, like no other
4. Real-life diversity
In the modern-day world, there’s often a somewhat stilted effort made by companies and organisations to try and contrive a sense of diversity. It may be a policy, mission statement or box ticking exercise. But, on a bus, diversity really happens, and it comes together naturally and brilliantly. A typical bus journey is an eclectic, wonderfully diverse juxtaposition of gender, ethnicity, beliefs, sexual orientation and cultures, like nothing else, side-by-side. It’s not staged, it’s Britain at its best.
5. The enemy of automation
For generations, officialdom across government and business has more and more squeezed the number of frontline folk in customer-interfacing positions. Technology has taken over, cost efficiencies are seen as virtuous by those in charge: from park-keepers to police, to High Street banks shutting down and telephone helplines being taken over by voice automation. Yet, with bus drivers still in the ascendancy (indeed, we need more and more of them), this is one of the areas of modern life where there is still a down-to-earth, normal person to welcome us. It’s such a reassuring feeling being met by a human being that there’s a sense of feeling at peace with the world when it happens.
6. Quirks and loveable eccentricity
Again, in the ‘mean machine’ of an overly efficient world, of pre-rehearsed scripts and behaviours, the bus driver is often eccentric. But that fits in with a bus proposition that is wonderfully quirky per se. In Southend today, a bus driver told me how customers were magnetically drawn to Ensign’s open top seafront services during pouring rain because it was a quirky, atmospheric and fun experience that was being provided. Last week, I caught a bus that was delayed in the New Forest whilst it patiently waited for two separate groups of ponies to decamp from the main shopping street in a village and out of the way of the bus. My now adult offspring still remind me that the most haunting experience of their childhood was on the Southern Vectis Ghost Bus tour when ghosts and ghouls (actors) drove in cars in the dark, and jumped out every so often to glare through the windows. It’s nuts really – I mean, what other mode of transport provides such mesmerizingly quirky theatre?
This fantastic industry gives amazing opportunities for school leavers to complete apprenticeships
7. A career for all
Not only does the bus sector have an entrepreneurial, ‘can do’ mentality, but it also provides so many great experiences across such a diverse range of skillsets and it’s not overly obsessed with academia as a precursor to being able to join the family. This fantastic industry gives amazing opportunities for school leavers to complete apprenticeships in engineering that can realistically put them on a path that leads to the boardroom, and it takes 16-year-olds on as social media protagonists, developing them into brand marketing experts. Hungry sales folk can do B2B business deals, whilst those who are fascinated by communities can be involved in stakeholder engagement roles and there are opportunities aplenty for those who are fascinated by schedules and networks, both on an operational and commercial basis. Meanwhile, leaders are made in bus depots, where all the necessary skills are spawned in often challenging, fast paced environments. This is a sector where there is a place for anyone and where, best of all, the culture is friendly and welcoming for newcomers.
8. Unforgettable ordinariness
Whilst I like looking at buses, I don’t find them instantly attractive, like I do trains – weird though this might sound. I don’t really know the difference between a Plaxton or a Scania vehicle, but what I do find compelling is in old pictures online or in books of yesteryear and the sight of a bus. I’m certainly not the only one. Very often, for instance, ‘normal folk’ (i.e., not transport weirdos like you and I), look at a picture of my old stomping ground in south east London in the 1980s, and remark affectionately about the 61 bus in the classic Metrobus blue and yellow livery, approaching the former Commodore Cinema in Orpington High Street, or a Routemaster going past Woolworths in Petts Wood as a 94-numbered route, before it became a ‘208’. They’re more interested in this than any of the now defunct shop brands in the background or naff fashions adorning passers-by, captured by the photographer.
Buses instantly evoke feelings of nostalgia among us. Hark back to your childhood and memories of travelling to school or play on the bus always endure, they never fade, however mundane they might seem.
The sector is oozing not only with talent but also decent, likeable, down-to-earth people
9. Unbelievable all-round value
With the current £2 fares cap in England, buses have never been such great value. £2 to travel all the way from York to Whitby, a total of 72.4 miles – is one of several humongous, long journeys. 72.4 miles, let that sink in. Even without the fares cap, travelling by bus is one of the few products that offer great value and it’s not just the distance. Buses are warm, and have, in many cases, leather seats and lots of legroom. They had free Wi-Fi and charging points long before other comparable service amenities did and they are always ‘staffed’, thus providing a sense of security. And they connect with a bigger network, enabling folk to travel much further too.
10. Fancy dans prohibited
Okay, as with all industries, there are some rogues, scallies and rotters within the bus industry – but the sector is oozing not only with talent but also decent, likeable, down-to-earth people. So too, is rail, but there are fewer jumped-up showboaters in bus businesses, partly because resources are so stretched, no one has the time to not get their hands dirty at the sharp end, work harder, take accountability, make decisions and not be pampered. There’s also a real love and passion for buses among those in charge and frontline folk – a desire to work unstintingly for the good of the sector and its customers. Every year, I make new mates in the bus industry, maybe through a new project or just stumbling across someone. I continually wonder how I ever lived my life all these years without knowing these people, from sharing a glass of coke or Wimpy meal with them, late night gossip on WhatsApp or just bouncing back observations around the demographics in different towns and how bums could be enticed onto seats.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alex Warner has over 30 years’ experience in the transport sector, having held senior roles on a multi-modal basis across the sector. He is co-founder of recruitment business Lost Group and transport consultancy AJW Experience Group (which includes Great Scenic Journeys). He is also chair of West Midlands Grand Rail Collaboration and chair of Surrey FA.
This story appears inside the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
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The post 10 reasons why I love travelling by bus first appeared on Passenger Transport.