Getting around town with a buggy, 2 little boys, and all the related paraphenalia can be challenging. Most of the time I walk, it takes longer, but I enjoy the journey as much as anything. Today though, we took the bus.
Buses in Edinburgh are regular, frequent, clean and go just about anywhere you need to go (plus the littlies are free). There are some things, some little rules that make them….. well annoying. Things you’re better off knowing before you huddle under a bus stop waiting for one.
- Firstly you require the exact change. The Lothian bus drivers do not handle money, if you take a five quid note on board, that is how much your ticket will cost.
- There can only be one unfolded buggy on board at a time. This means if your bus comes past and there is already one on board, you have to fold up or wait for the next bus. Although I can understand the logic, (over crowding etc) the whole process is very annoying.
Take today….. we’d had a pretty tiring day out for two little boys and being a Sunday we had to wait longer than usual for the bus. This was not so bad, as it wasn’t quite raining but R was getting pretty cranky. The bus comes, we get on and put the exact change in to get our ticket. Meanwhile the bus driver is telling the couple in the ‘buggy section’ to move and make way for us (in not the most pleasant tones). “But our daughter is asleep” they say….. oh no… they have a buggy too. The bus driver hasn’t seen them, and so failed to tell me I couldn’t get on. My ticket is only valid for this particular journey! I could stay on, but I would have to unload my cranky baby and all the crap we seem to need for a day out just to fold the buggy up for a 10 minute bus ride. No Thanks. So there I am yelling to D who has already made himself comfortable in the back of the bus to come, back we need to get off. The bus driver kindly printed me a ‘day ticket’ so I wouldn’t waste my money and we started to back out….. … Then, not surprisingly the little sleeping girl wakes up from all the commotion, and her parents very kindly decide that they (being two parents with one child) can happily fold up their buggy and make way for us! By this point I can feel the driver swearing from the hold up! I guess he wasn’t having a good day……
Then…
…Because little people and moving buses generally don’t mix we wait until the bus is completely stopped before we try to head for the door. I pressed the button, yelled to D at the back of the bus that “The next stop is ours” and waited….. The bus slowed… drifted towards the footpath and then accelerated again… What? …This guy really wasn’t having a good day! I stood up then, just to make sure he stopped at the next one!
Deciding to make something good from all this, I gave my free day ticket to someone waiting for the next bus. Hopefully their bus ride was better. 😉
A Few Facts
Prices
Single Adult ticket 1.60
Children (5-15 years) 0.80
Adult Day ticket 4.50
Child 2.00
- You can also purchase weekly, monthly and annual tickets too, which is a great idea if you have to catch 3 or more buses in a day.
- There are over 60 bus routes
- They are very User fiendly, with low doors (no steps) for both disabled access and buggy’s
Do you have any public transport stories?
