The Art of Double-Decker Bus-Hopping
Wednesday November 23rd 2005
One of my favorite things to do in London is ride its public transport system. I find it very soothing to have someone else drive for a change. If there's traffic, it allows me more time to read. If there's a technical difficulty, there's always another bus "10-12 minutes" behind you. And as a newbie to this city, peering about from 15 feet off the ground really helps you get to know a place!
But this love did not come all at once. To really get along with the public transport, you need to know it well, and understand its quirks. The "10-12 minutes" is surrounded in air quotes because it's hardly ever 10-12. My guess is that the average time is 10-12, but the majority of wait times usually drift far to either side of that window. We've waited 30 minutes for a bus before, and similarly seen 3 back to back (at the time, we knew there were only 4 buses running that particular route, and we were sitting on the 4th!).
So the real secret to enjoying yourself on London's public transport is found in 2 simple rules:
- Don't be late when you need to catch a bus or train. Murphy's Law here folks, nothing surprising. If you need a bus to be on time, it likely won't be. If traffic needs to be running smoothly, it'll be a parking lot. There's no way around this rule, it's hard fact. So the first secret is to BUFFER as much time as possible for getting from point A to B. It's hard to get used to at first, and difficult at times to admit to a commute taking twice as long as it needs to, just because of the buffer and wait times. But trust me, it'll be even longer if you need it to be shorter. :)
- Learn to Bus Hop. This means knowing more than one way to get to your destination, and always, always taking the first one that comes your way. Even if this means taking one bus for a time, and then getting off and waiting for the one you were originally waiting for all along. It's still the only way to travel. Why? It sort of goes back to rule number one. Don't expect that first bus, the bus you really want to take, the non-stop direct bus, to actually come on time. So just start moving towards your destination any way you know how. Getting half way there is better than not at all.
It sounds like these rules could be lumped into one big "Don't Trust the Transport System" rule, but it's really a matter of embracing and enjoying the ride. Revel and be proud in the number of buses you take just to make it 2 miles down the road! Tell your friends how you started on the 225, got off at Bermondsey, jumped on the 188, and saw that the 381 was riding your tail, so at the next stop that both buses shared, you jumped off the 188 and right onto the 381. You're a pro now! A Double-Decker Bus-Hopper.
That's actually my daily routine. While I only took two buses this morning, I could have taken 4 or 5, and have at times. Today I simply felt like walking (my other favorite thing to do in London). But even those 2 hops gave me a little smile on my face.