This week is Better Transport Week (15-21 June), a national celebration of sustainable transport and how it connects people and places. We couldn’t think of a better time to share a piece from Gillian Chowns, who makes the case for leaving the car on the drive – even just once.
Do you ever think about the time when you will no longer have a car – or you will still own one but it sits idly on the drive because deteriorating health means you no longer have a licence. Do you think “Oh well, when that happens, I’ll just use the bus” and then carry on driving?
Why wait until then? Why not use the bus now?
Here are seven simple reasons to travel by bus:
You see more from a bus. It’s a chance to take in the scenery, discover what’s over the hedge, the fence or the wall. You notice things you’ve driven past a thousand times without ever really seeing.
You can take your eye off the road. Relax and people- watch. You could even be very un-British and start a conversation with someone in the next seat. Better Transport Week is all about how transport connects people and places – and that connection starts with a simple hello.
You can discover corners of the countryside that you never knew existed. The view from a bus window is a different world to the view from behind a steering wheel.
You can come out of your own ‘bubble’. See how the other half lives – the bus will take you through hamlets, housing estates, new developments, old communities, and parts of your own town that you have never explored before.
It’s cheaper than you think. We rarely stop to work out just how much it costs to cover a mile by car. Bus fares compare favourably once you factor in the true cost of running a car. A Daffodil Line single is just £2.
Use it or lose it. If we want buses to be around when we can no longer drive, we need to use them NOW. If we don’t support bus routes now, they will have disappeared as uneconomic when we come to need them later. The Daffodil Line exists because this community refused to let that happen – but it needs passengers to survive.
It’s good for the planet. Going by bus is one of the easiest ways to reduce your carbon footprint. One full bus takes dozens of cars off the road, which means less pollution, less congestion, and cleaner air in our villages and towns.
Tempted to take a ride?
Better Transport Week is the perfect excuse to give it a try. This week is about celebrating how sustainable transport connects communities – and the Daffodil Line does exactly that, linking Ross-on-Wye, Newent, Ledbury, and the villages in between.
The 232 Daffodil Line is a community-run service, supported by local councils, businesses, and residents who believe that rural public transport matters. Named after the wild daffodils for which our area is famous, it offers a scenic route through some of the most charming countryside in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.
You don’t have to give up your car. Just try the bus – even once. You might be surprised how much you enjoy it. And if everyone who lives along the route took the bus just once a month, we would never be at risk of losing this vital connection between our communities again.
One journey. That’s all it takes. Check our timetable and plan your first trip!
