You call THIS a bus stop?
January 15th 2008 13:49
A Sydney bus stop
I am back home in Sydney at the moment, enjoying the glorious summer weather. I go to the beach with my friends a lot, and each time I'm happily floating in the blue waters of the Pacific, I actively appreciate what an incredibly pleasant sensation it is compared to walking around on a frosty, grey day.
Now, as lovely as it is to be in Oz again, I can't help but ALSO notice a few things that annoy me about this country. One of them is the suburban Sydney bus stops.
I was walking around a nice North Shore suburb with my friend two weeks ago, and noticed that familiar yellow sign that indicates a bus stop (which is already a lot by Aussie standards, since many stops have absolutely no signage whatsoever). But I also realised for the first time how incredibly uninformative this sign is.
There's a metal pole with a yellow shield with the picture of a little man getting into a bus... and that's it. No name of the bus stop. No indication of which bus lines stop there. No timetable.
And the bus stops in more populated areas aren't much better. They might mention what bus numbers stop there, but not where those buses go.
That's one great thing about Germany: no matter where you are, no matter how quiet the street, the bus stop will always have a proper name and a very thorough, detailed timetable for all the days of the week. It even tells you how long it takes to reach all the other bus stops on a particular route (!). You don't need to visit a transport website, you don't need to harass the driver -- the bus stop itself will inform you where you can go from there and when. Ah, the convenience.
And yes, bus stops having actual names is an incredibly good idea. Another good idea is visual or vocal announcements in the bus itself, letting you know which stop is coming up next. This is ESPECIALLY useful when you're heading to an unfamiliar destination after dark, and it prevents awkward verbal exchanges with the driver, such as the one I had earlier this year:
ME: Does this bus stop on Military Road?
DRIVER: Yes. Which stop on Military Road do you want?
ME: Well, I need to get off at the Hayden Orpheum cinema, which is somewhere on Military Road. Is there a stop near there?
DRIVER: Yes.
ME: OK, that's the one I want to go to.
DRIVER: Right, that will be $2.00.
ME: Could you please warn me when that stop is coming up so that I won't miss it?
DRIVER: All right.
(15 minutes later)
DRIVER: Cinema!!
ME: (Squeezing through the crowd.) Yes, yes... that's me!
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Comment by katyzzz
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Comment by Eva W.
Life in Germany
Although I'm a little disturbed by the fact that I actually notice and care about things like that. I think I might have spent a bit too much time in Germany... and I'm becoming a whingeing German myself!
Comment by Anonymous
" But we can't play Taboo with 3 teams. There are only 2 columns on the game pad"