A week on public transport

As any semi-regular reader might have guessed, I'm not a big fan of First Leeds. There are few companies who treat their customers with as much contempt as this band of incompetents and it's a travesty that they operate almost every single bus service in Leeds.




If they spent just half as much on running their services as they do on PR spin, then the majority of Leeds' transport problems would be solved at a stroke, but that's for another day.

In an effort to increase their monopoly further, they've taken trying to convince the public to ditch their cars so that they can continue to clog up the roads with those stupid purple "ftr" eyesores and so they have taken to producing "the diary of a car quitter". The problem is that it's completely inaccurate.

And so on their behalf, I have taken to rewriting their diary for them.
Step 1: Ensure that your job does not involve any working outside the hours of 9:00am and 5:00pm. Outside these hours, a bus in Leeds is only seen on the changing of the tides. Forget any notion of going out after dark. Working outside the city centre? Good luck!

Step 2: Stand in the cold for a minimum of 11 minutes for your "every 10 minutes" service. Of course, there is no timetable attached to the bus stop and so you have to pay 50p to use the text messaging service. This "instant" message will only be received by you once you have boarded the bus you were seeking information on.

Step 3: Gasp as you realise that the required fare is comparable to that of a 2:00am Friday night mini-cab journey.

Step 4: Upon realising that no seats are available, you find yourself crushed in a steel container between at least two people. One of which will invariably have a body odour problem whilst the other will be a 14-year old playing drum 'n' bass music from a mobile phone speaker. Reminisce about how you used to be able to sit in comfort in an air conditioned car listening to your choice of music.

Step 5: Endure approximately one hour of your stop-start journey encompassing unfathomable diversions through every housing estate in West Leeds. Step 6: Arrive at your destination and vow never to do that again.

I actually think my version is better than First's.