Nine hours later...

After my experiences on the busathon (Tuesday) I think that we should have a national, 'Use the bus day'. (perhaps we already have one!)

I can almost hear people saying I knew he'd say that. And I must admit that I thought I would be saying positive things about the experience before I even put my foot onto the Arriva 110 service Widnes to Warrington. But the whole experience was really an eye opener. More about this later.

I managed to visit 9 towns in nine hours. Warrington, St Helens, Ashton in Makerfield, Wigan, Bolton, Blackburn, Preston, Southport and Liverpool. Now I do use the bus when I can so it wasn't such a culture shock to spend 9 hours on them.

Was I surprised about who bus users were? Not really mums and young children, older people using their passes (after 9.30) and what I can only describe as poorer people especially in the old industrial towns - St Helens, Wigan and Bolton. And the friendliest and most considerate people? (this could be a bit subjective, coincidentalist and bordering on the patronising) those poorer people, particularly from Wigan.

I felt more relaxed in the Wigan part of the trip than anywhere else. Not that the trip I was taking was anything like skirting down the Amazon avoiding dangerous exotic tribes. But it was just the reassuring 'Are you awreet?' banter and the spirit of this phrase which seemed to be everywhere.

What was really interesting was meeting a man at St Helens who got on the bus I was getting. He was travelling to Ashton and told me he'd lived there all his life. He was the same age as me. His family had been bakers for generations and had a bakery in Violet Street Ashton.

One of the reasons I'd chosen Ashton as a stop was that I'd been born there. My family moved to Liverpool when I was 5 or 6. So it was great meeting him. He stayed on the bus longer than he'd intended showing me the sights. Filling me in on details about the infant school I'd attended (British School Bolton Rd - hadn't known that it was called that - now no longer there, a swish private older persons home stood in its place - is that significant in some way?)

If your not into sad statitics then avoid this paragraph. All the buses were on time and there were no hold ups. There were lots of pot holes on the urban routes which the older buses didn't like but the smoothie new double deckers (Stagecoach) which run from Preston to Southport took everything in their stride, much more leg room as well.

This effecient running of the buses I encountered reminded me of industrial action I'd taken as a social worker in Ormskirk/Skelmersdale in the 1990's. There was a dispute about car expenses so we refused to use our cars and used public transport. (Used taxis for urgent work but buses normally for other stuff) We assumed or at least I assumed it would really impact on our work - but it didn't at least the relatively short distance travel didn't.

People are put off using public transport because of time factors. My experiences in the 1990's and on Tuesday reminded me it isn't necessarily so. Which brings me onto something maybe a bit more important in terms of the positives. Bus travel offers - another world experience.

Like, in a car there's normally just you or if there's someone else with you, you probably know them. On a bus it's maybe someone you know but also other interesting people you just don't know. Conversations are easily overheard and you get a snapshot of real people's lives.

By car its the same old thing, in a bus well it's up to you. It can certainly be mind expanding seeing how the other half lives. If you have to get a couple of buses the chances are you'll have to wait for a short while. There's no real opportunity to be carrying out some contrived task to pass the time away (apart from maybe mindless texting which we all do sometimes.) But what bus queues do offer, and its not rocket science to work out, is the sort of close proximity to people you don't know, who you could actually talk to.

So buses can equal: getting more exercise, slowing your life down just a notch or two, potentially meeting interesting people and moving ourselves away from our self centred lives and getting a smattering of understanding about other peoples experiences and problems. And that's before we start talking about reducing our carbon footprints.

Now to me that sounds quite valuable, but maybe that's just me?! If you want to view all the other bus photos (to show that I really did visit all those towns) email me at haltongreenparty@hotmail.com and thanks for your support.


Wigan bus station