On the Buses

Sitting on the 780 bus to Mt Druitt station the other day, I was reminded of other bus trips in other places and other times...

My first recollection of travelling on a bus goes back to the early 1950s when we were living in Cape Town and often travelled from Green Point to the city by bus. In those days the old City Tramways used Daimler CVG buses with their distinctive green and cream livery.

My next memorable bus ride was more of an endurance test than anything else. In 1964 I was on a school outing to Die Burger's Youth Centre in Cape Town... but we travelled from Oudtshoorn, which was a good 600 km from the city! The bus was an old one and the seats not very well padded anymore, and we did not stop once along the way. We could hardly stand when we reached Muizenberg and the Youth Centre!

Later, when I worked in Cape Town in the 1970s, first in the Army at Youngsfield and later at Die Burger in the city, I often travelled on City Tramways buses. By then they were operating Leyland Titans (similar to the ones used in the British comedy series "On The Buses"). The buses were a cheap and comfortable way of getting from my lodgings in Tamboerksloof down to the newspaper’s offices on Keerom Street in the CBD. I used to walk home, because for most of my time at the newspaper I was on the night staff, covering crime and accidents, and worked until 1.30 am, when there were no more buses running.

For many years after that the only buses I travelled on were school or charter buses taking me and my sports team to and from other schools on Saturdays, and that is always a VERY different experience, especially afterwards when the boys were celebrating victory on the rugby or cricket fields.

Next was using the buses on São Miguel in the Azores. They were cheap and fast, even though there were often unscheduled stops to pick up elderly ladies or gentlemen along the way. The island's older roads were rather rough, most having originally been cobblestoned, then just covered with a thick layer of macadam, so the ride was a great test of the buses' suspension and the padding of the seats! I always liked to sit as close to the front as possible, as each driver adorned his windscreen with a fascinating variety of religious and sporting slogans and memorabilia.

Bus travel in Japan was also cheap and the buses were (typically Japanese) always on time. The biggest challenge there was deciphering the timetable and route information, as EVERYTHING was in Japanese and most drivers did not understand or speak a word of English.

In São Paulo, Brazil, bus travel is very popular because it is so cheap - R2.30 (one réal 30, or about $1.50 Australian at the time) bought you a ticket which was valid for as far as the bus route went... and in a huge city like Sao Paulo that can be very far! But the part of the city I was staying in was old and poor, and the roads and streets in a terrible condition: potholes and bumps where potholes had been mended alternated with sections of cobblestones. The drivers always seemed to enjoy getting as close to or as far over the speed limit as possible, so passengers learn very quickly to hang on for dear life! Brazilian buses have what must be racing suspension, because on feels every pebble in the road as if sitting on a sheet of plywood towed behind the bus!

Melbourne’s buses are a dream to ride on and Sydney buses on the whole are close as regards comfort. They would be as comfortable if Sydney only had more decent road surfaces!

Something that I find fascinating is how the cost of a bus ride can differ from place to place. In Portugal one paid per route section, like in Sydney, but only about a third as much as here.  Japan’s bus fares are also much cheaper than in Sydney. I like Melbourne’s system, where one quite cheap ticket allows you to travel on buses, trams or trains for the duration of the ticket (2 hours or a whole day).  But the most impressive public transport system I have yet travelled on must be that of São Paulo. OK, a bus ride is an adventure, but cheap all the same, and buses run every ten minutes during off-peak times!

Yep, it’s always fun “on the buses”!