Transport For London, the great means of transportation service that London provides for its residents. But how great is it in reality?

 

As a student, a bus is my main way of getting to school and I can confidently say that it is a real STRUGGLE. When 8 o’clock comes around, every adult will take a deep breath as it is the SCHOOL HOUR. Everyone knows about it, the worst hours to be out are 8 a.m. (when every child is catching a bus or getting a ride to school) and 3 p.m. as children rush eagerly to get home.

 

From a student’s perspective, it’s hard to catch buses. In the morning, we all want to get those 5 extra minutes of sleep - this means we will get the 8 o’clock bus. The only problem is that: most students have this same plan. Chaos! The buses are packed with children, with no space for the oxygen that we need… personal space is not a thing when it comes to these bus journeys. The bus will not stop and will leave a lot of people behind. ‘Even though I live 15 minutes away from school (by bus)… I’m still late sometimes’ says Giovanna Benetti. She has expressed her frustration quite clearly as she has to face the same problem every morning even if she leaves home half an hour before. Like many other people, she stated that sometimes ‘leaving my house an hour before, still doesn’t work’. But why is this?

 

The bus surely should be arriving constantly 10-15 minutes at the bus stops. Although this doesn’t actually happen and it makes people’s mornings a whole lot more stressful. These individuals are choosing to use buses which is one of the best decisions to be made, especially in London, as pollution levels are extremely high in this grand city but most importantly climate change is something that a lot of people have been protesting about as it is a vital issue that needs to be dealt with. Surely those who decide to catch buses to go to work or school, deserve better. They are helping to save the world, believe it or not. Packed buses can take up to 80 people (double-decker) which means there are fewer cars causing pollution. This horrid bus experience can lead to people choosing to take their cars to work instead. Hearing ‘Move down the bus!’ when clearly there is no more space to go, is quite frustrating. TFL should take this issue more seriously and maybe introduce more buses to busy routes – especially school routes and rush hours. But then, this wouldn’t be the busy, beautiful, loud London we have learned to adore.

 

Mariana Agrela Sardinha