Help!! Taking the bus??

Post Reply New Topic

I need help! My friend recently moved and the only way I can get to her house is by bus! Taxis are too expensive, and somebody driving me is out of the question. I'm a teenager, but I've never taken any public transport alone. There isn't a metro in my city. I just need help with how to stay safe and cope. I live in Canada (British Columbia) if that makes any difference.

Sit in the first seat behind the driver's seat. That should help. If you're not sure which stop to get out on ask the driver.

Look up on Google Maps where your friend lives and try to identify landmarks to help see where you're going.
Maybe do practice runs. Ask your friend to accompany you the first time?
Remember to ring the bell a while before you need to get off, long enough for the driver to indicate and turn in to the stop.
Listen to music if noises upset you.

When I was a teenager, 17, I couldn't stay on at school any more because there wasn't any courses suitable for me, and so my support worker at school arranged for me to go to college, which was 9 miles away and so it meant I had to take a bus. I had never got public transport by myself before either, and I was petrified. I just knew I couldn't do it, and I got really anxious. But the school or my parents didn't want me to just leave and be in the big wide world yet, and so I kind of had no choice. In the UK you can hire a travel training person to go with you a few times on the bus or train if you are feeling anxious, and help you familiarize yourself with some of the routes by remembering landmarks, but unfortunately I'm not sure if there's a service like that in other countries.

But it didn't take me long to become confident getting public transport, and now it's 7 years later and I am addicted to getting the buses! I even got a special interest with buses, and I met friends on the buses along the way, and now I am dating a bus-driver. Not saying all that will happen to you, but it's sometimes funny how something can make you feel anxious, and then it suddenly turns into something you feel most confident at more than anything else.