fatvegan

Driving cars does wonders for my attitude towards buses. I spent rather a long time driving to university today and then rather a long time parking and then rather a long time walking from the car to the university. Approximately two hours and ten minutes all up. Although it was fun driving in the rain. I like it when everyone has to slow way down because their windscreen wipers aren't strong enough.

I think in future when I'm driving from Hornsby, I'll drive to Newtown and then catch a bus. It would have been way quicker today.

It also made me think about the welfare of parking spots. Parking for the day inside the university would have cost $6, which isn't that much but more than I can afford. There were heaps of other students driving around looking for a spot, just like me, presumably because it was too much for them too. But there were loads of spaces in the university parking building. More than half of several hundred spots would have been available. It strikes me as a sub-optimal use of space. For sure, student time is less valuable then lecturer time, but I don't think it's that much less valuable. Thirty minutes spent driving around still counts for something. I am able to easily catch a bus to uni, but for all those people who drive every day despite the trauma of parking I assume the bus would be even worse. So I reckon the world probably needs more buses, more bus routes, higher petrol prices and cheaper student parking for the students the other incentives don't convince.

Perhaps higher student income too. Saving $6 for 30 minutes effort feels like good value to me, but it isn't really. Although I don't feel like my income is too low. Maybe more sensible student consumption is the answer.