Bussing for Beginners

Public transport in Sweden is very good. And, as a rule, cheaper than taking your car. Unless you've managed to wrangle free parking in town. Buses are large, relatively modern, comfortable, and so reliable that you can set your watch by them. They are nice and warm in the winter, and there's usually a good supply of morning newspapers on board to fill in the time. The drivers are generally pretty helpful. If you tell them where you want to go, they'll help you sort out the correct price. Payment is usually cash, although some routes will accept bank cards. The best way, if you intend to move around a lot, is to buy a pre paid bus card. Swipe it across the scanner then you enter, and that's it. You can buy a card from the bus driver, but that take time and tends to annoy the other passengers. Well, one particular passenger anyway. The preferred method, if you're travelling on my bus, is to purchase your card from the ticket (biljetter) office at the bus station, and not at the bus stop (bushållplats). Generally you buy a certain number of bus rides ( resor) for a specified route ( t.ex från Boden till Luleå ). I don't know how it is elsewhere, but the most I can buy at one time is 40 trips. So that's 20 round trips. What you can do is to buy another 40 before your first 40 have been used. Which is handy to know if you get wind that bus fares are about to rise next week. The scarey part about double decker booking is that your card only shows the number of rides that you have left in your current block. So if you are using your card and you have say 3 rides left, but you've just bought 40 more, your card will only show "3", and not "43". As you ride more often it will show "3", "2", "1", "0", and then "39". You have to learn to trust the system when it shows "0". And save your receipt (kvitto). Buses carry a supply of bus timetables (tidtabeller) on board. If you're not familiar with the 24 hour clock, learn it. Or ride only in the mornings. All buses have safety belts, and there are signs politely reminding you to use them for your safety. But you don't need to. You'll also see a sign saying "försätta bakåt", which basically means to continue towards the back of the bus. All common sense stuff.