The great commuting dilemma

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It's almost 6 years since I returned to working in the city centre. For all that time, with one or two exceptions, I've used public transport to commute. Initially driving to my local Metro station and using the train but after poor service and strikes I moved to the bus.

Now I find myself seriously contemplating driving into work. Some background to perhaps explain what a big shift this is for me... I have been propelling myself around Tyneside by public transport since I first decided to get the Metro to school when I was about 9. I've always gone to work by bus or Metro apart from a 2 year period when I worked in Durham and then the Team Valley. When I travel long distance it is usually by train. So I'm a big fan of public transport.

However, the service is starting to grind me down. I'm sick of being glared at or ignored by miserable drivers, I'm fed up of being thrown around by those same drivers who don't understand the concept that brake and throttle pedals are linear devices, not binary. Hacked off with standing, freezing cold, at the bus stop as three buses fail to turn up. And to top it all, I'm slightly miffed that I now have to pay £50 a month for the priviledge of sharing my commute with a bunch of ill-disciplined school children.

Yes, I know I'll just moan and groan about car parking charges, tailbacks, not being able to read while I drive and so on, but public transport is expensive and unreliable. Why it doesn't just work is beyond me.

What to do, what to do...

Comments

Jackson Pope said…
I know where you're coming from. I try to get public transport when I can, but there's only one bus to work in the morning, and one back in the evening. It costs £3.70 a pop too. On the up-side it's too early in the morning and too late in the evening to be loaded up with school kids :-)
28 January, 2006 08:12
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