In message , Edward Cowling
writes

Someone said to me the other day that if nothing
else Ken Livingstone had made buses an acceptable
way to travel.

Everyone uses buses these days, they said.

Do they ?

I doubt if *everyone* does, but as someone living in a pretty well off
household in Richmond, I say that I use them a lot - except when weather
and proximity allow me to cycle (which I much prefer, particularly for
health reasons).

We have cars, but they are not economic or sensible for many local
journeys - and if I'm going into central London with the intention of
having a drink, then I'd much rather have my own chauffeur in the form
of a bus/tube driver than risk myself and others on the road.

(LT staff reading this newsgroup - your services REALLY are appreciated
by most of us, especially at this time of year)

I still consider the bus as drop in centres on wheels and would rather
walk 5 miles in the rain than use one.

Then you are astonishingly pompous and clearly cannot relate properly to
other people.

What is the overall perception of them out there in Internet land ??

Here buses run every few minutes, and right through the night, are often
faster than cars (due to bus lanes and the expense & difficulty of
parking in these parts of London) and are thus very much cheaper.

They also often give me the chance to exchange a few pleasantries with
other travellers - a degree of human contact that is not available if I
choose to pollute the atmosphere in the privacy of my car.

The fact that buses drop me within 50 metres of my door, and right
outside the stations and other places I want to visit is an added bonus
- and considerably better than driving round and around in despair of
finding some remote parking space in a dark back street at exorbitant
cost and often with the Congestion Charge added.

I applaud walking for health reasons, but if you do it at the cost of
not using a generally excellent bus system you risk denying yourself a
breadth of human contact and efficiency in your movements about town.

--
Paul Terry