Savin' some dough

Bus Boon #2 It's cheap

Riding the bus is cheaper than parking at UBC. Depending on the bus pass I purchase, I save $6-$10 a week by riding the bus instead of driving, not to mention not buying gas. For students, I think it is essentially free to ride since they are provided with an unlimited bus badge by the university. Some companies provide a similar service. Even without purchasing a discounted packet of tickets, adult bus fare is only $2.50 (tickets good for 1.5hrs to allow for connections) to anywhere in the greater Vancouver area.

Bus Bummer #2 Time lost

One major trait of all mass-transit systems is that users give up some control of deciding when they will start and end their journey and how long they will spend traveling. The bus schedules are posted on-line, but the buses I frequent are rarely precisely on time. This means that anything less than a 10min buffer between connections will likely result in you missing a bus. I can't tell you how many times I have been nearing the bus station with at least 5 min before the scheduled stop only to see the bus pulling away. I have given up trying to catch a particular bus in the mornings as I just get angry when it doesn't appear on time.

As a result the toted 37-minute commute on-line, is more like 1.5 hours as you wait for the bus to come, wait on the bus in traffic, and wait for people to get off at every single stop.

One example of the annoyance of off-schedule/non-existent buses: I planned very carefully to take a specific bus home one night so that I wouldn't get caught waiting at a semi-random bus stop in the no-man's land between the times the normal buses and the night buses run. (The night buses run from 1:30-4:30 am, but only at half-hour intervals while normal buses run every 15-20 min.) But that first bus was late, and I ended up sitting for 30 min on a cold, dark bench dressed as a pink Care Bear. I don't know who was more frightened, me or the lady sitting next to me on the bench.

Lost time waiting on the bus also comes from the streets they must travel. To be convenient to the most riders, the buses travel on the busiest streets, which adds to the commute time as they have to wade through traffic. The buses also don't run continuously, so missing one means a 15-30 minute wait on all but the few major routes. Try planning to see a movie with that kind of uncertainty.