Bus Timetables

[JP Dogberry]

I normally do not have much of a problem with Brisbane's public transport system. It is afforable, comfortable, and not too slow. The buses are usually frequent enough.

In a months time, I have a convention I am looking forward to attending (and have already paid for). This convention will involve mucho roleplaying goodness (I have soemthing booked in every slot, which is way too many, and I'll be all Roleplayed out. But so mnay good things to try!)

Except on the Sunday and Monday (a public Holiday) the buses don't run early or late enough to get me there, or back. I think I can figure out something with my friend who lives a reasonably long walk away from the venue, but grrr....

I need to get there before 9:00 on the two days (That's game start, registration and breakfast starts at and leace at 11:00. First bus there leaves at 8:00 (and it's an hour trip, plus walking to the venue after I get to the city). Last bus to leave is 8, a full three hours to early. The website suggested I catch the bus at 5 pm the previous day to get there on time.

Oh, and I was just playing a MUD (I fell to the darkside again) and spent forty minutes pressing the up arrow followed by the enter key to reel in a fish. And I didn't even get the fish at the end of it.

[EUOL]

You know, that's one nice thing about other countries.  Public transportation, even in small cities, is well-used.  In America, everyone is generally too fond of their cars (myself included) to use PT.  The result is that the busses are generally filled with the poorer or stranger segment of the population, and when you do ride them, it feels rather uncomfortable.  Big cities are different, I suspect, but every town I've lived in has been this way.

[Spriggan]

in Japan it's all trains.  There are buses, but they're not used as often, except to get from point a to point be where trains arent.  Also most people have use bikes too.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

DC has good PT. The underground trians ("Metro", which as an aside, is what Las Vegas calls their police; so on my mission when I talked about riding the Metro people thought I was talking about being arrested or something) are very regular and the buses take up the slack for the outlying areas. Business professionals use them a lot. In addition, for those still attached to their cars or not accepting the capricious whims of whehter or not the busses will run on time, a hearty "slug line" culture has sprung up. Basically, people line up at the bus stops, and someone driving will pull along side, announce where he's going, and people that would be convenient for hop in. They don't wait for the bus, and the driver gets to use the carpool lanes. Kinda cool. It's how I got to early morning cons for Phi Theta Kappa back in the day.

But... "buy a car" is the only advice I have, since you rejected the cheaper solution of "get a room"

[JP Dogberry]

And how am I supposed to drive it, given I am unlicensed and unskilled?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

it's always something with you, isn't it?

[fuzzyoctopus]

I wouldn't get anywhere without the Provo busses.  I've become so dependent on them I don't know how I"ll manage to move somewhere there's not a good PT system

[stacer]

Um, I would think anywhere you move will have a better public transportation system than Provo...

Okay, I exaggerate. But any city the size of Provo or bigger, at least. There's only 1 bus route in the entire city, practically. At least, to get where I needed to go, that often happened to me. So I'd often spend over an hour to get from Provo to Orem, when a 15 minute bike ride would do the trick in good weather.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

well, keep in mind that the bus system in Provo is run by a company based in Salt Lake City. That's pretty far away for a single company to cover in one network.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Yeah Like from DC to Fredricksburg

[fuzzyoctopus]

Um, I would think anywhere you move will have a better public transportation system than Provo...

Okay, I exaggerate. But any city the size of Provo or bigger, at least. There's only 1 bus route in the entire city, practically. At least, to get where I needed to go, that often happened to me. So I'd often spend over an hour to get from Provo to Orem, when a 15 minute bike ride would do the trick in good weather.

Huh.  Well I live close to two bus stops which take me either to class, or to the mall to pick up the car from my husband.  The busses in provo run a LOT more frequently than in other cities I've been in, plus the driver are friendlier and the busses are cleaner.

I like being able to get on a bus and not worry about being mugged/raped/hit on.  You've never seen the busses in Orlando.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

um I have, some routes are nice, but some are mobile ghettos.

[stacer]

You must have been in some annoying places, PT-wise, then. Or Provo has improved. When I was there, the buses usually only ran once an hour or maybe every 1/2 hour if you were lucky. Of course, I'm comparing it to Boston and Chicago. I can pop down to the T and pick up the train every 10 minutes or so in rush hour, and the bus runs about every 15 minutes on weekdays. Now, on Sundays it gets pretty bad--maybe once every 45 minutes, so you have to be either slightly late to church or about 1/2 hour early. Or get a ride, which I've been doing a lot more of lately.

True--Boston and Chi are pretty safe. Except that you have to avoid the red and green lines in Chi at night, or you could get stabbed. So there is the safety factor.

[Mistress of Darkness]

 

Red & green lines? Is that a new type of racism?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

no, it's  acolor code for what route the trains take.