How best to travel on a trip
Recently, I was involved in a traffic accident and I now have to go, once a week, to hospital for treatment for my injured back. The hospital is in the city, 60 kilometres away from the town where I live.
Most people travelling that distance would probably opt to go by car. It is, in many ways, the most convenient form of transport since it gets the traveller straight from point A to point B without involving any other form of travel, provided there is car parking available.
For a few weeks after the accident, my back injury prevented me from driving and, although I am now able to drive again, I am not going to go to hospital by car. For a start, I do not really enjoy driving. I never have. I find it extremely stressful. Besides, I like to read or catch up on paperwork when I travel, and obviously I cannot do that when I’m driving!
My brother Jim has kindly offered to drive me there, but I have declined his offer. I find travelling in a car in this part of the world stressful, even when I am in the passenger seat. There is a great deal of traffic on the roads, resulting in terrible congestion. It takes a great deal of time-and a great deal of stress to get anywhere at all, especially during the rush hour.
Apart from all this, I have environmental objection to going by car. It has been proven that emissions from motor vehicles are polluting the atmosphere. Scientists are concerned that these emissions are also contributing to the damage to the ozone layer and to global warming and climate change.
Bus travel, of course, also involves such emissions, because a bus is also a motor vehicle. However, a bus carries many people, not just one or two. Thirty people travelling in one bus cause considerably less damage to the environment than thirty people travelling in thirty or so cars.
Then there is conservation of energy to be considered. This is crucial to the survival of the planet. One bus uses much less fuel than thirty or so cars.
It is certainly possible for me to go to the hospital by bus. I have to walk only a short distance to the bus stop nearest my home, and the bus stops are quite close to the hospital. Going by bus is faster than by car because there are dedicated bus lanes in my town and in the city. Thus, bus travellers avoid the worst of the traffic congestion.
I could also go by train. There is a regular train service from my town to the city. The trains are electrically run, clean and, for the most part, run on time. I really like travelling by train. I find them more comfortable than buses and they are faster. They stop much less often than buses, making for a less interrupted journey.
However, I shall travel to hospital by bus. The railway station is at the other side of the city from the hospital and I would have to take a bus, which would be time-consuming when added to the train journey. Alternatively, I would have to take a taxi, which would be expensive and have some of the environmental disadvantages of the private car.
I am going to go by bus. Not only will this journey be the quickest overall, but it will also be the cheapest. Having been laid off work because of my injury, I do not have much money.
