North Sydney to Brookvale by bus. ( Distance: 13.6KM)
“What the h-!”
When I found out that I had left very important stuff including my wallet at home, my mind was in the dark. I did not know what to do…. Especially when I didn’t have my car with me.
I quickly tried to get a grip on myself and find a way to go home and get the stuff back as soon as possible. How? I have decided using the proud Sydney public transport for my short trip back home. It couldn’t take that long, right?
Taxi? My first option was a taxi but it would cost me about $50AUD to$80AUD (depends on traffic.) If I am not lucky and stuck in a terrible Sydney traffic jam, for sure that I would not feel comfortable to sit down in a taxi and looking at the meter goes up and up. It was too expensive option for an average earning citizen like me.
How about train? Unfortunately, there are no trains to Northern Beaches. Not many people overseas will believe that we don’t have a train line to Northern Beaches in Sydney, is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populated city in Australia (Wikipedia). But due to various reasons which I cannot really understand, the government has not yet processed with any Railway construction or expansion that dates back to the 1920s. We are now living in 2013 and nothing has happened for the last 93 years. This fact depresses people that live in the area. But what can we do? Therefore, train was out of options for me.
Bus? Taking the bus home was the only option I had. I have been working at North Sydney for many years but I rarely take a bus home as there are not many direct buses to Brookvale. As I am not familiar with bus time tables or directions, I even did not know where to get a right bus to go home. However, did I have any choice? No, so I borrowed $20AUD from a colleague and started my remarkable bus trip.
Let me share with you my bus trip from North Sydney to Brookvale.
I walked down a block to the closest bus stop and check if there were any buses to Neutral Bay where I needed to get a bus to Northern Beaches (3 minutes). As I expected, there was no bus to Neutral Bay.
I walked down to the next street and luckily found some buses to Neutral Bay (3minutes walking). After 5 minutes waiting, I could get on a bus and paid cash $2.20 AUD (for about 1 Km).
I had my eyes open wide as I tried to find a correct bus on a time table attached on the bus stop which I had lots of trouble reading as it was so worn out. After 5 minutes waiting, one of the buses that go to the Northern Beaches stopped in front of me. I felt lucky that I didn’t have to wait too long. But the happiness didn’t last too long. I jumped in and handed $5AUD note to the bus driver,but he refused to take my cash and ask me to buy a bus ticket. Another barrier to jump… I begged him that I needed to take the bus but he gave me a simple and clear gesture, pointed the gate. “GET OUT!”.
I was pushed out and left on a busy street without any idea where to get the ticket. As I do not use bus services often, I hardly ever bought bus tickets so it was not easy to find where to buy bus tickets. I walked for 5 minutes to find a place to get a ticket and found a convenient store where I could purchase a ticket. “$4.60AUD!” when the shop keeper told me the price, I could not believe my ear. $4.60 for 12KM? I walked 3 more minutes to the next bus stop and waited 5 minutes for the next bus.
I was proudly showed my $4.60 bus ticket to the driver and wished to get home as soon as possible.There is no sign or map in the bus, I needed to ask/bother the bus driver if he would stop a bust stop I need to get off. Even though I know the area well, I didn’t know where the bus would stop or not. I could not even imagine how hard it would be to find a right place to get on and off for tourists or strangers.
It took me almost 1 hour to get to Brookvale. 1 hour for 13.6 KM? It is similar time to when I run home from North Sydney. I still had to thank that I could catch a faster bus called limited stop bus and it was not a peak hour of the day.
Sometimes I feel bit guilty not using public transport often enough, but I can promise that I am not going to stop driving and using public transport. First of all, I don’t have enough time to waste. Secondly, it is economically not an efficient choice as using bus costs more than driving a car. Lastly, I do not want to be in a Sydney Public Transport Chaos which happens so regularly. I feel sorry for the people who spend enormous hours on the public transport to commute between work and home every single day. Some of my colleagues spend more than 2 hours to come to work (over 4 hours a day!!!). What a stressful journey it would be!
The conclusion of my bus trip was neither easy nor pleasant. I will keep avoiding using public transport until Sydney Public Transport is working for PUBLIC. I would like to ask people in the government who have got power and responsibility on Public Transport to do something, for the public who they always say they work for.
“What the h-!”
When I found out that I had left very important stuff including my wallet at home, my mind was in the dark. I did not know what to do…. Especially when I didn’t have my car with me.
I quickly tried to get a grip on myself and find a way to go home and get the stuff back as soon as possible. How? I have decided using the proud Sydney public transport for my short trip back home. It couldn’t take that long, right?
Taxi? My first option was a taxi but it would cost me about $50AUD to$80AUD (depends on traffic.) If I am not lucky and stuck in a terrible Sydney traffic jam, for sure that I would not feel comfortable to sit down in a taxi and looking at the meter goes up and up. It was too expensive option for an average earning citizen like me.
How about train? Unfortunately, there are no trains to Northern Beaches. Not many people overseas will believe that we don’t have a train line to Northern Beaches in Sydney, is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populated city in Australia (Wikipedia). But due to various reasons which I cannot really understand, the government has not yet processed with any Railway construction or expansion that dates back to the 1920s. We are now living in 2013 and nothing has happened for the last 93 years. This fact depresses people that live in the area. But what can we do? Therefore, train was out of options for me.
Bus? Taking the bus home was the only option I had. I have been working at North Sydney for many years but I rarely take a bus home as there are not many direct buses to Brookvale. As I am not familiar with bus time tables or directions, I even did not know where to get a right bus to go home. However, did I have any choice? No, so I borrowed $20AUD from a colleague and started my remarkable bus trip.
Let me share with you my bus trip from North Sydney to Brookvale.
I walked down a block to the closest bus stop and check if there were any buses to Neutral Bay where I needed to get a bus to Northern Beaches (3 minutes). As I expected, there was no bus to Neutral Bay.
I walked down to the next street and luckily found some buses to Neutral Bay (3minutes walking). After 5 minutes waiting, I could get on a bus and paid cash $2.20 AUD (for about 1 Km).
I had my eyes open wide as I tried to find a correct bus on a time table attached on the bus stop which I had lots of trouble reading as it was so worn out. After 5 minutes waiting, one of the buses that go to the Northern Beaches stopped in front of me. I felt lucky that I didn’t have to wait too long. But the happiness didn’t last too long. I jumped in and handed $5AUD note to the bus driver,but he refused to take my cash and ask me to buy a bus ticket. Another barrier to jump… I begged him that I needed to take the bus but he gave me a simple and clear gesture, pointed the gate. “GET OUT!”.
I was pushed out and left on a busy street without any idea where to get the ticket. As I do not use bus services often, I hardly ever bought bus tickets so it was not easy to find where to buy bus tickets. I walked for 5 minutes to find a place to get a ticket and found a convenient store where I could purchase a ticket. “$4.60AUD!” when the shop keeper told me the price, I could not believe my ear. $4.60 for 12KM? I walked 3 more minutes to the next bus stop and waited 5 minutes for the next bus.
I was proudly showed my $4.60 bus ticket to the driver and wished to get home as soon as possible.There is no sign or map in the bus, I needed to ask/bother the bus driver if he would stop a bust stop I need to get off. Even though I know the area well, I didn’t know where the bus would stop or not. I could not even imagine how hard it would be to find a right place to get on and off for tourists or strangers.
It took me almost 1 hour to get to Brookvale. 1 hour for 13.6 KM? It is similar time to when I run home from North Sydney. I still had to thank that I could catch a faster bus called limited stop bus and it was not a peak hour of the day.
Sometimes I feel bit guilty not using public transport often enough, but I can promise that I am not going to stop driving and using public transport. First of all, I don’t have enough time to waste. Secondly, it is economically not an efficient choice as using bus costs more than driving a car. Lastly, I do not want to be in a Sydney Public Transport Chaos which happens so regularly. I feel sorry for the people who spend enormous hours on the public transport to commute between work and home every single day. Some of my colleagues spend more than 2 hours to come to work (over 4 hours a day!!!). What a stressful journey it would be!
The conclusion of my bus trip was neither easy nor pleasant. I will keep avoiding using public transport until Sydney Public Transport is working for PUBLIC. I would like to ask people in the government who have got power and responsibility on Public Transport to do something, for the public who they always say they work for.
Day 3. 3 Flowers and the Butterfly
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