Now this may come as a shock, but I like travelling on buses and there's nothing better than sitting upstairs when you're on a double decker. Despite my growing number of years, there's still something interesting about sitting upstairs. I think it's something to do with being able to see things and feeling like your the king of the road.
This particular blog was inspired following a journey home on the bus one night last week. Usually, my bus up the hill from Chester-le-Street is a single decker, but on this particular night it was a double decker - nice ! Off I went upstairs and there was only me up there as its only a relatively short journey through towards Houghton and there's not as many customers in the early evening. It was lovely and peaceful sat upstairs and its fair to say that some of the views as the bus runs down by the Riverside at Chester-le-Street are pretty good. Just as the bus was about to cross the River Wear, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that some swan's were just taking off from the river and gaining height. As the bus headed up the hill to Lumley, the swans were getting into their usual V shaped formation and off they went, heading Eastbound and heading for god knows where but their pace was amazing. It was a truly amazing site to watch and had I not sat upstairs, I wouldn't have seen it.
It does make me think though that are we missing something in the bus industry by not promoting the views on some of our routes ? Now I know that tourists are unlikely to be beating a path to a few places I could think of in the North East, but even some of the unlikeliest routes will no doubt have some canny views. Plus, kids love going on the bus too and they love going upstairs (or at least mine do !) and it certainly gives you a better perspective on your journey - a bit more time to think and a bit more to think about too.
And as kids get older and they turn 17, their first thought is learning to drive as they just think the bus is not for them. One of our neighbours (she's 17) and is currently learning to drive, so her parents had a look at buying her a runaround car - a Nissan Micra which was reasonably priced and around 9 or 10 yrs old. The insurance price was over £4k - more than double the purchase price for the car and 5 times the price of an annual regionwide bus pass. Is the bus that unattractive that people will pay these amounts of money to give them personal transport ? It's a frightening prospect and it makes you wonder just how much money the insurance company's make.
So, there's no moral to this tale except to say that travelling upstairs on the bus is a great experience and its something we should all have a go at !
This particular blog was inspired following a journey home on the bus one night last week. Usually, my bus up the hill from Chester-le-Street is a single decker, but on this particular night it was a double decker - nice ! Off I went upstairs and there was only me up there as its only a relatively short journey through towards Houghton and there's not as many customers in the early evening. It was lovely and peaceful sat upstairs and its fair to say that some of the views as the bus runs down by the Riverside at Chester-le-Street are pretty good. Just as the bus was about to cross the River Wear, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that some swan's were just taking off from the river and gaining height. As the bus headed up the hill to Lumley, the swans were getting into their usual V shaped formation and off they went, heading Eastbound and heading for god knows where but their pace was amazing. It was a truly amazing site to watch and had I not sat upstairs, I wouldn't have seen it.
It does make me think though that are we missing something in the bus industry by not promoting the views on some of our routes ? Now I know that tourists are unlikely to be beating a path to a few places I could think of in the North East, but even some of the unlikeliest routes will no doubt have some canny views. Plus, kids love going on the bus too and they love going upstairs (or at least mine do !) and it certainly gives you a better perspective on your journey - a bit more time to think and a bit more to think about too.
And as kids get older and they turn 17, their first thought is learning to drive as they just think the bus is not for them. One of our neighbours (she's 17) and is currently learning to drive, so her parents had a look at buying her a runaround car - a Nissan Micra which was reasonably priced and around 9 or 10 yrs old. The insurance price was over £4k - more than double the purchase price for the car and 5 times the price of an annual regionwide bus pass. Is the bus that unattractive that people will pay these amounts of money to give them personal transport ? It's a frightening prospect and it makes you wonder just how much money the insurance company's make.
So, there's no moral to this tale except to say that travelling upstairs on the bus is a great experience and its something we should all have a go at !
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