Wheels on the bus go round and round
January 25th, 2023
For once, I have here so many options. And each one of them depends only on me and my mood and can be adjusted to my plans as need might be. I am talking about my options to get to and from work. I can walk, it takes between 40 and 45 minutes (depending on the route and there are several of those) and there is a lot of greenery along the way so it is especially nice in spring. I can take a bus, it takes between 25 and 30 minutes door-to-door with a transfer and several options as well in case I miss the connection. I can bike, it takes between 15 and 20 minutes, it depends on the weather of course but from April to October it is my favorite option. And I can take my car, it takes between 12 and 20 minutes depending on the traffic and traffic lights patterns and there is no fun in that at all — and that means burning dinosaur bones, very expensive at that.
Today it was the bus. And a curious thing — at my bus stop there were a lot more people than usual. There are 3 buses that arrive at the basically same time and they were well packed. The same happened with my transfer, there were more people waiting there and definitely more people on my bus. I do recognize people who I’ve been riding those buses in the morning, but today their faces were lost among all the other different people. That was a significant change even from a week before. There is no other explanation — more and more people are using mass transit in my city. And just to make sure I spoke with several colleagues this morning who ride buses as well and they all confirmed the same. Over several weeks/months, they noticed a significant increase in ridership.
The reason is simple and it is also an unexpected consequence of the current situation on a local and worldwide level. Everyone I know is looking for ways to save money or rather cut down on unnecessary expenses. The economical situation is dire and it will continue like this for months or years. Fuel costs are the main reason for all the increased prices and also are felt really significantly in everyone’s wallet. And obviously, if there is an option of using mass transport to get somewhere instead of driving yourself. It might not be the most time-efficient manner of transportation but getting up 15 minutes earlier to take a bus to get to the destination on time is a small challenge when in a long run it can bring significant savings. I don’t even want to mention the positive climate impact this will have when used by more and more people. I see this change happening right in front of me and as much as it is an unexpected situation caused by raising inflation and the need for cost-cutting, it is also a very welcomed and positive mass change in daily travel habits.
