Things I hate most when I’m driving: 01 Buses that just pull out in front of you.

I was driving along one of the main streets in Sydney’s CBD yesterday. It was peak hour and as always, a bit crazy. Not one, or two but 10 buses pulled out of the bus lane with almost no notice.

We must give way to them, but we don’t get the same in return, Instead of light rail, why not have buses on inner city busways. Trucks, cars and buses don’t mix. Throw in bicycles and you have a recipe for disaster. Peak hour, or should I say peak 3 hours, gets even worse. Not only are there the nimble cars, bikes and vans, but what seems to be a million buses. What’s worse they don’t stay in the bus lanes allocated to them, but pass each other blocking the entire street all the while.

There is no solution to this situation. People will insist on going to work then coming home again. And, they will insist on doing it at the same time as everyone else, so instead of trying to spread our peak hour they paint silly red lanes on the road and tell buses that they and they alone are able to use them. Of course if there is a bus in the bus lane, the bus can overtake the bus by using the road that the poor old car is trying to drive in. Then the bus, and the bus do the same speed as each other and no one else can get past. I think we’re missing a trick here, What we should do is paint the rest of the road blue and designate them car lanes, no buses allowed. Any deviation will result in humongous fines and loss of licence.

And in a final act of defiance, we make politicians travel in buses only. Their cars will be then allocated on a rotor basis to members of the hoi-palloi. I bet we would see action on congestion faster than you can say “corrupt town planning”.

Only joking, or are we?