Let me tell you a thing or two about public transport....
I found this in my room during my MASSIVE sort out and I read it and it amused me muchly so I thought I'd share it with you all. It was a piece I had to do for English lit/lang A-level titled: Rhetorical Speech
Imagine this. You are standing in the middle of nowhere in the freezing cold waiting for a bus. It is the last bus and you begin to wonder whether it is coming or not. Does this sound familiar? This is a bad situation for anybody to be in but worse for vulnerable teenagers who are stranded, desperate to get home. Is this any way for the government (central and local) to be encouraging the people to use public transport? The government talks about how bad pollution is and how the problem is growing but isn't the solution so simple? To have a better transport system that is reasonably priced and efficient.
Why are we in the year 2001 (that's when this was written) with a worse service than we had many years ago? Do you like others, constantly ask yourself the question, should public transport be nationalised once again? We are still unable to perfect a system that has run much better in the past. It is a joke that they are trying to introduce "real time" electronic displays at the bus station where the buses are renowned for being late. It would be good to have a real time system but le's be realistic, when the bus company cannot even put up paper timetables at each bus stop, how are we expected to put this real time into practice? Surely this would cost far more than the cost of displaying and updating paper regularly! I think the system as it is now should be perfected before adding extra night buses and real time displays. The bus companies excuse is that they are understaffed. If they are so understaffed then isn't it going to be even harder to run night buses? The bus timetables are appalling. Is one bus every hour really enough? There are times when there are 4 hours between the last bus and the next one.
The recent petrol crisis should have taught the government to put more funds into a better public transport system but soon after there was a problem with the rails which caused the trains to de-rail. This affects everyone. People trying to get to work cannot be blamed. Why should they be at a disadvantage just because they don't live near their workplace? Just think of all the poeple who are not old enough to drive and all the cold nights they stood waiting for the bus that never came. One day they are going to be able to drive and would have completely lost faith in the transport system.
We should be conserving the petrol we have left, not using it as if there were no tomorrow. The government has been trying to put into action a car sharing scheme for a while now and it has taken too long. What will we do when the petrol runs out? It's better to plan for the future now but our voices just aren't being heard. If our public transport ran efficiently enough then we could avoid things like the petrol crisis, perhaps solar powered cars and buses? If the government cannot take the initiative in this, who will? Does the man in the street make a different? It is time for every one of us to speak out and be heard!
Yeah and then I learned to drive and now I don't give a shit and I've become a slightly happier person. The moral of the story everyone is to learn to drive. Also I got an A for this piece, plus I sent it to Stagecoach but I didn't get a reply. Cowards.
Imagine this. You are standing in the middle of nowhere in the freezing cold waiting for a bus. It is the last bus and you begin to wonder whether it is coming or not. Does this sound familiar? This is a bad situation for anybody to be in but worse for vulnerable teenagers who are stranded, desperate to get home. Is this any way for the government (central and local) to be encouraging the people to use public transport? The government talks about how bad pollution is and how the problem is growing but isn't the solution so simple? To have a better transport system that is reasonably priced and efficient.
Why are we in the year 2001 (that's when this was written) with a worse service than we had many years ago? Do you like others, constantly ask yourself the question, should public transport be nationalised once again? We are still unable to perfect a system that has run much better in the past. It is a joke that they are trying to introduce "real time" electronic displays at the bus station where the buses are renowned for being late. It would be good to have a real time system but le's be realistic, when the bus company cannot even put up paper timetables at each bus stop, how are we expected to put this real time into practice? Surely this would cost far more than the cost of displaying and updating paper regularly! I think the system as it is now should be perfected before adding extra night buses and real time displays. The bus companies excuse is that they are understaffed. If they are so understaffed then isn't it going to be even harder to run night buses? The bus timetables are appalling. Is one bus every hour really enough? There are times when there are 4 hours between the last bus and the next one.
The recent petrol crisis should have taught the government to put more funds into a better public transport system but soon after there was a problem with the rails which caused the trains to de-rail. This affects everyone. People trying to get to work cannot be blamed. Why should they be at a disadvantage just because they don't live near their workplace? Just think of all the poeple who are not old enough to drive and all the cold nights they stood waiting for the bus that never came. One day they are going to be able to drive and would have completely lost faith in the transport system.
We should be conserving the petrol we have left, not using it as if there were no tomorrow. The government has been trying to put into action a car sharing scheme for a while now and it has taken too long. What will we do when the petrol runs out? It's better to plan for the future now but our voices just aren't being heard. If our public transport ran efficiently enough then we could avoid things like the petrol crisis, perhaps solar powered cars and buses? If the government cannot take the initiative in this, who will? Does the man in the street make a different? It is time for every one of us to speak out and be heard!
Yeah and then I learned to drive and now I don't give a shit and I've become a slightly happier person. The moral of the story everyone is to learn to drive. Also I got an A for this piece, plus I sent it to Stagecoach but I didn't get a reply. Cowards.