by simon baird

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

bus vs train

bus:
once I was running up to the bus and the door closed. then the bus driver lady opened the door! accustomed as i was to trains this was a surprise. i had turned away and started wondering when the next bus was

train:
the train door will close it's door when it's time to close. it will do this without regard for your physical well being let alone your commute schedule. platform staff are generally (and no doubt there are exceptions) highly unsympathetic

winner:
bus


bus:
if you miss the bus then wait about five minutes and, bam, there's another bus. (this is based on my personal experience boarding either on adelaide street or coronation drive).

trains:
if I miss the 5:12pm at milton on the way home the next departing train is 5:40. enough said. if I miss the 8:12am at central the next train is 8:39 (or something). to be fair, i guess there are more frequent trains earlier than that but if I want to sleep a bit, bad luck, train gone.

winner:
bus


train:
my place to central is quite a few blocks. it's pretty much diagonally opposite me if the cbd was a big rectangle. it's about eight minutes if you power walk.

bus:
i'm not really sure how many places around the city i can get on a 4xx bus. quite possibly there are many. but the bus stop 40 adelaide street is about two blocks closer than central and there's no up hill section.

winner:
bus


bus:
i get on the first bus i see on coro drive. from what i can tell it goes pretty much a different way every time. sometimes i get a tour across the william jollie and back past the art galleries and the cultural center. sometimes we dive into the bus only ramps and tunnels that wind all around under the city. and when the bus stops you get off and it's like woah, where am i now. for example: top of queen st mall, middle of queen st mall near hungry jacks, all different parts of the myer center, king george square, and those are just the underground places. sometimes you don't even go underground at all, you just end up somewhere int he city. you just don't know.

train:
a. pretty much the same route every time. b. scenery generally but not entirely consisting of concrete, grafitti and the backs of buildings.

winner:
bus


bus:
sometimes when you're standing up (which isn't that often, especially since i have a reverse commute) and taking a corner you're gonna have to hang on pretty tight or you're going to end up in someone's lap. especially when twittering or playing chess.

train:
it's pretty smooth ride

winner:
train


bus:
$2.80 or something. go card capable.

train:
$2.70 or something. go card capable.

winner:
tie (actually i can't remember the exact figures, but it's close enough to be a tie)


score so far:

train: 1.5
bus: 4.5


but i'm going to give the train one extra point for engineering coolness and one for roma street platform at a certain time of year when you're changing lines and the setting sun is exactly in line with the platforms and the tracks


final score:

train: 3.5
bus: 4.5

overall winner:

BUS!


search juice:

Brisbane
TransLink

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