After having hopped on a bus to find the prices have gone up AGAIN, I have mixed reviews on SPT.
Katie's explained a bit of the background in her last review so I'll surmise some of the routes, etc - SPT doesn't merely cover Glasgow, but there are bus links to surrounding towns that end up spanning quite a distance. Buses like the 204 for instance will take you further up the west side of Scotland towards the likes of Loch Lomond, while others have catered for Inverclyde in more recent years. These buses are great for tourists wanting to take a trip "doon the watter", as we Weegies call it, or up to the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond; gateway to the highlands.
So that's the high road - now I'll take you through the lows. You know the Oyster cards they have in London that are super efficient for everyone involved? The cards that save you heaps of money by linking the tube, train or bus services, making transactions easier for all commuters? Aye. No such thing up here! So if it's quicker for you to get the tube somewhere and then hop on a bus, it'll cost you double, coming in at £2.50....and that's the cheapest scenario.
Sounds like I'm being thrifty, but it's a pain in the neck. If they are going to continuously crank the prices up at every opportunity they should continue to improve service. Not that service on the tube is bad - it's painless and easy to navigate, as Katie says. But the tube only covers a proportionately small area of the city and its outskirts. As for the buses....well there's another story! Although they look flashier, are cleaner and have their trendy wee plasma screens chugging out adverts, where is the money being pumped into? The prices creep up on what sometimes feels like a monthly basis, and you never get told! So when you get on the bus blissfully unaware of the change, the bus driver quite often will bark at you, wrongly assuming you're trying to dodge the fair. Which brings me to another point - when did bus drivers get so rude? It's not all of them, mind - but the ones who are can be so crabbit they have the potential to make a rough, dreary day at the office 100 times worse.
Don't get me wrong - SPT has its plus points and perks. The buses run very frequently, with the more popular central routes operating within less than ten minutes of each other. So you rarely feel you're waiting long. They also reach out to more remote areas. But when the service is bad, boy is it ever poor! With the raging drivers, some of whom struggle to break in the barely salvaged older buses and ever increasing fares, you can often leave the bus feeling sick in every sense of the word. The bus routes may be great but it doesn't cost much for manners in terms of some staff. With the subway shut for the Commonwealth people will be relying on the buses more than ever, so improvements in weak areas can still be made.
Baring all this in mind, I NEVER have a problem with the trains. They're always great! Try and use them as much as you can because they are by far the strongest service! read more