Bus Travel

I have cause to visit Nettlebed one evening from Hughenden Valley and to return the same evening some time later. It would be nice to travel by bus, so I looked up the bus times, using Google. This found me a site called TravelLine that would plan me a route there and back.

Excellent! I found that I could catch the 15:57 from Coombe Lane Bottom, by the Village Hall and that this would get me to the bus station at 16:07. At 16:15 there is a bus to Henley that arrives at 16:58. I go to another stop and catch the 17:20 to Nettlebed, arriving at 17:28. Not bad - only one and a half hours, including 30 minutes of hanging around waiting.

Now the return. Would you believe that the latest I can leave Nettlebed is 21:18, otherwise I have to camp out until nearly 9am the next day. So, wanting to get home I catch the 21:21, curtailing my evening. I catch the 139 to Wallingford, where I arrive at 21:34 and wait to catch the rail replacement service to Reading railway station at 21:55. I arrive at Reading station at 22:33, in time to wait for the 22:57 train to Paddington. Underground to Marylebone and Chiltern Line train at 23:54 to arrive at High Wycombe at 00:24 the next day in time to walk the three miles home because the last 300 is at 10:45.

So, with all the taxes that the Chancellor of the Exchequer is bleeding out of us, is he putting anything into buses and trains as a result? Pence perhaps, but not the 50 billion he sacrificed in Northern Wreck. the alternative? Taxi or get someone to pick me up. Not very green, but it saves a three and a half hour return journey when I set out shortly after arriving.

As I have a bus pass, I might just take the bus there, but 'her indoors' will need to collect me for the return.

I could catch a taxi from Nettlebed to Henley and then get the bus back to Wyco, but guess what? You guessed. It arrives after my last bus home has departed. Joined up bus times? Not with the absence of joined up thinking.

I also hate to think what the cost of the return journey might be, with two buses and two trains and one underground journey plus taxi at the end. Cheaper to buy a car and throw it away at the end of the journey probably.

This is the thing I love about politicians - they tax us, telling us to use a greener option and then do not provide a sensible greener option. If a private company took our money for providing a service, we would take them to court to get our money back when the service did not materialise as promised. Of course, we can't take the politicians to court because they only promise things in 'the round' - not even worth the hot air that they spout.

did you notice that Alistair Darling is working hard to get more oil pumped out of the ground to reduce the oil price, while he is adding taxes on the basis of persuading us to go green? The oil price rise has had the effect of reducing the miles that people travel. Is this not what he wanted to achieve?

Silly me! He gets no tax from the oil price rise! Obviously that is why he does not like it. Better to lower the price by $20 and then add the equivalent in tax to take it back to where it was.