Monday 14 February 2011

About public transport in the UK (18) [Despre transportul în comun în UK]

This situation may not be unique for Britain; it may be familiar in other countries where Romanians would like to emigrate to.

It’s very likely that they are mainly European countries, although such precision is possible in the USA, whilst it is not uncommon in Australia, irrespective of the huge distances.

But I loved the way buses in Brighton, and in London as well, came on time with utmost precision, and the fact that you knew exactly how many minutes you were supposed to wait.

Buses in Glasgow were also fairly punctual, but I haven’t noticed any electronic billboards like in London, and surely not in some the remote areas of the city that I had been to.

I would have surely needed them, in order to know the number and destination of the arriving bus. Otherwise I had to ask a Glaswegian-speaking driver three times what bus it was, and still not be sure if I understood well :-(

This is a truly ‘good Brit example’… If only other things in today’s British society were as precise as buses coming right on schedule!

[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Au introdus panouri informative si in Craiova si Timisoara de ceva timp. :p

MunteanUK said...

Good to know that such good examples are also spreading to Romania, not only bad ones :-)

I was three times in Timisoara last year (April, July, and September 2010), but I didn't notice this kind of billboards near bus or tramway stops...

...maybe I'll see them the next time I go there!

Cristi said...

In Timisoara nu sunt 100% ca au introdus pt ca am auzit de la cineva, nu le-am vazut eu live :D, dar in Craiova le vad in fiecare zi, desi nu sunt in toate statiile.

MunteanUK said...

@ Cristi

Thank you for your little effort of honestly informing this blog's readers.

It's funny to know that there is at least one aspect in which Craiova could be 'ahead of Timisoara' :-)

It's really good to know that such billboards letting you know when the next bus is coming are already installed in Craiova.

***

A little request: please stick to writing in English if it's an English-language post, Romanian in case of a Romanian-language post, and any of these languages if it's a bilingual post!

Thank you very much!

Mihai said...

The billboards may be in place, but do they actually work ?
Do the buses actually keep to the schedule ?

If they do, then it would be a plus for Craiova, along with so many minuses.

MunteanUK said...

@ Mihai Gociu

What a politically incorrect 'anti-Craiova' bias you have! :-)

***

If I go to Craiova and ak people how buses work there, I hope not to forget returning to this page and tell you what I found.

Mihai said...

Bogdan,

First of all, greetings from Birmingham, UK.

I look forward to seeing what people from Craiova think about their public transportation system.

MunteanUK said...

@ Mihai Gociu

I am more interested in hearing news & impressions from Birmingham than in finding out whether public transport is good or bad in Craiova :-)

When do you think you could share some pictures from Britain and thoughts about your experiences there with those of us (not too many I assume) meeting on this blog of mine?

Mihai said...

Bogdan,

Soon enough, I hope.

As a quick impression, the first thing that stroke me is how polite people are in the UK. The second interesting thing about them is how cold resistant they are. Not only the adults, but also the children.

I can hardly imagine myself wearing so thin as a child on a relatively cold weather (3-4 Celsius degrees); my parents wouldn't allow it, not in a million years (specially my mother). Yet they don't seem to have a problem with it, children and parents alike.

I haven't downloaded the pictures into my computer yet, but hope to do it soon.

I will come back with more impressions; maybe I will even write a blog post about it (just registered at Blogspot to have my own blog, and I'm quite excited about it :-)

MunteanUK said...

Dear Mihai,

Congratulations for having a wonderful British experience in Birmingham (+ wherever else you may go), despite the "relatively cold weather" that you mentioned!

It was quite easy to notice, from my first days in the UK, that Brits were not 'overdressing' their children, which is so common in Romania :-(

Actually, I think you saw I wrote this here, and I am glad that you prove how correct my observation was:

http://munteanuk.blogspot.com/2008/01/vremea-asta-nu-e-chiar-imposibil_17.html

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Maybe you could also provide some support to my opinion that Millie's Cookies are GREAT (could you find them in Birmingham as well?)

http://munteanuk.blogspot.com/2008/10/en-worth-trying-in-uk-ro-merit-ncercat.html

...or to any of my countless 'likes & dislikes' about Britain that I posted on this blog.

***

I'm looking forward to reading your opinions about Britan, whether they are similar to mine or quite different in some cases.