So a little while ago I went out to a location further away from the usual 1-1.5 mile radius I venture out to. It was a lovely night peppered with mirth and merriment and a little bit of confusion seeing as I got mixed up on the night I was meant to go out. (Mental note: don’t assume someone means Saturday when they actually say Friday) Either way, I did stuff and I suppose that was the main goal. After a few hours of inadvertently crashing a birthday party, I called it a night.
You’d think that a place like London what with it being a bustling metropolis would make it easy to get from point A to point B. I mean all the drinking would make it incredibly unwise to drive. Frustratingly, the tube shuts around 12, give or take 30 minutes and where you are. Want a late night out? Mentally prepare yourself for a series of buses full of red-eyed, drunken “young professionals” loudly commenting to each other that the bouncer was being very rude, that John’s mate was clearly trying to sell Nathan drugs, and some other vile things not to be consumed by human ears at 4 in the morning. Also, the lingering smell of chips and kebabs. You can always bypass that colorful option to go the fancy route where you will pay out the nose for a cab (what’s paying out the nose?). This is why no one leaves the 1-1.5 mile radius. Always stay in the 1-1.5 mile radius.
On this particular evening, one bus + another bus = home. I caught one bus still filled with naive optimism. Now for part two. Parked at the empty bus stop, I waited 10 minutes. Then 30. Then an hour. No bus in sight and I had already watched that episode of Children’s Hospital. After being rejected by 2 bus drivers who apparently had enough of taking on passengers, I hailed a cab (which added about 10 minutes more onto total journey time). I was home in 15 minutes. FIFTEEN minutes.
To break it down 2 drunk buses = 2 hours of getting home and a 15 minute cab ride that cost £16. Note: the Tube is supposed to go 24 hrs in 2015 so there’s the light at the end of the underground.
All of this can also apply to any major American city’s public transportation situation at any time of day.
This blog post has been brought to you by TfL and a rant I didn’t really intend on rehashing.