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.

Reasons to be Cheerful

Ok, so this is probably about the third time this has happened in the past 2 weeks. Someone is going to get a smack shortly. Every day I take the 7am bus from my hometown to the city where I work. There are 3 buses that arrive at my bus stop at exactly the same time, every day. They all have big "can't miss" signs on the front saying where they are going to. The first to arrive says "university", the second says "hospital", and the third says " direct to city". So I'm waiting at the bus stop, with a group of people. And you know how it is, you can just tell when someone is likely to be a problem. They have this air of eagerness and excitement about them, which translates into not having a clue in the world. About anything. The 3 buses roll into view, in their usual order. The problem with my bus stop is that there's only space for 2 buses at one time. So if there is a third bus, it has to wait back. Not usually a problem because nearly everyone uses a prepaid bus card, so it doesn't take long to load and move off. Not today. I spotted these three hopefuls, gleefully lining up for the first bus. Which had a huge yellow "university" sign scrawled right across the front. They were the first 3 of about 10 people lined up for that bus. After about 2 minues, with everyone else still waiting outside, the 3 pile off the bus again. Clearly they only discovered that the bus was going to the university when they went to pay the driver. And clearly that wasn't where they wanted to go to. They wander down to the second bus, labelled "hospital". Stare at it for some time, then step away from the queue of people trying to get on. The University bus has now finally left, but the "city direct" bus is now stuck behind the university bus, and isn't going anwhere. So the rest of us just generally mill around, waiting. Finally our bus gets a spot at the kerb. The 3 wandering gypsies seize the day and spring to the kerb, ensuring they are the first to get onto the bus. I'm about 6th back in the queue. You can picture my delight when I hear the first person say to the driver, "we would all like to got to the hospital, please". "the hospital ?", "yes please", "the same hospital that the bus with HOSPITAL written all over it goes to ?", "yup, that's the one", "like the bus that's just left ?", "yes, to the hospital", "then, you'll need to take the hospital bus", "not this one ?", "no, not this one". Ah yes, there's nothing that sets the mood for the day better than enjoying a 15 minute performance of the Court Jester and the Village Idiots. Again.