Yesterday I had a day off and went to Saffron Walden for a visit to the Fry Gallery to look at the Edward Bawden pictures.
This meant getting to Tottenham Hale to get the Cambridge train (two trains an hour), getting off at Audley End. At first sight the list of buses on the poster at the bus stop at the station looked very promising. However, looking more closely, most of the buses run very infrequenhtly eg only Tuesdays, or only during the school term. So I suppose it was lucky I had only a 25 minute wait. It was a large mini bus I caught with a cheerful, friendly driver, which was nice.
After visiting the gallery and 3 charity shops, not finding a vegetarian cafe (I'm vegan) or a pub that would do basic pub food (so I could have something like chips) I then waited for a bus back to the station. There was a bus that ran once a day during school term, but that didn't turn up. The once-an-hour bus turned up 10 minutes late so I waited 50 minutes for the bus and just missed a train.
It took me 2 1/2 hours to get there and 2 3/4 hours to get back.
I enjoyed my day off, but am glad that I can get round London so easily and don't need a car.
Showing posts with label public transport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public transport. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
If you live in a city, you don't need a car
On the Guardian website today was an article from Joanna Moorhead who had given up the family car and doubted she would replace it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/06/live-city-dont-need-car
Most of the comments were about the London-centric nature of this article, most other cities don't have the public transport infrastructure that London does (and several South Londoners pointed out that South London doesn't either).
However, following the comments it showed that many (but not all) who claimed to need the car, or that the car was cheaper, were probably misleading themselves.
I once talked to someone from Gloucestershire who thought there was a lot of snobbery about cars in the countryside. He used the buses. In Gloucestershire these were full of the elderly and children, whereas in London they were full of a wide range of people of all ages. He was once at a meeting and the person he was meeting found he was travelling by bus and was amazed, "But you are a manager!".
One of the options for those not owning a car but needing to use one was to hire one. However that only works for ex-car owners. If you have passed your test, don't get a car, then need to hire one a year later, are you going to be safe on the roads? That's why I've never driven since I passed my test 30 years ago!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/06/live-city-dont-need-car
Most of the comments were about the London-centric nature of this article, most other cities don't have the public transport infrastructure that London does (and several South Londoners pointed out that South London doesn't either).
However, following the comments it showed that many (but not all) who claimed to need the car, or that the car was cheaper, were probably misleading themselves.
I once talked to someone from Gloucestershire who thought there was a lot of snobbery about cars in the countryside. He used the buses. In Gloucestershire these were full of the elderly and children, whereas in London they were full of a wide range of people of all ages. He was once at a meeting and the person he was meeting found he was travelling by bus and was amazed, "But you are a manager!".
One of the options for those not owning a car but needing to use one was to hire one. However that only works for ex-car owners. If you have passed your test, don't get a car, then need to hire one a year later, are you going to be safe on the roads? That's why I've never driven since I passed my test 30 years ago!
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