The critic

Alan Davies lists the reasons Melbourne’s residents shun their buses

Melburnian’s seem to love trains and dislike buses. Melbourne Airport and Doncaster are both served by high-frequency bus services with a wide span of operating hours, yet large numbers of people want to spend billions replacing them with trains.

The list of criticisms of buses – relative to trains – is long. Right at the top is slowness. Buses operate in traffic, follow circuitous routes, stop frequently and idle while passengers dig out spare change to pay the driver. They’re uncomfortable too. Shelters are perfunctory, the ride is jerky and difficult if standing, seats are jammed too close together and too many drivers don’t seem to actually like passengers. And buses are unreliable. They’re invariably late and if you miss one the wait for the next one will seem interminable. If it’s night or a weekend there’s a good chance that was the last bus for the day.

The fan

Mark Matousek says a local New York City bus ride is better than that offered by the city’s subway. And it costs the same too.

Riding the bus is often cleaner and more comfortable than using the subway. An alarming percentage of New York subway stations haven’t been updated in decades and have visible signs of decay to show for it. On top of that, they can be hot, dirty, smell bad, and house enormous rats.

Things don’t get much better once you’re in a subway car. A packed rush-hour commute isn’t ideal, but it’s not cause for concern in a city with NYC’s population density. No matter how you travel to work, you likely won’t have much space.

However, on weekend mornings or weekday evenings, the subway is still packed, making the prospect of a seat – or even a few feet of personal space – unlikely.

That’s not true on the bus, where it’s often easy to find both a seat and an appropriate amount of personal space outside of rush hour. You’re also above ground, get to enjoy the natural daylight and the bus is cleaner too. Some of the newer ones even have charging ports, which can help prevent your phone from dying in the middle of the afternoon or late at night.