Benefits of public transport - Less stress

Photo by saveena

This post is part of a series of posts about the benefits of public transport.

At first sight using any kind of public transport doesn't look very stress-free. You have to take care of the schedule and you have to make sure you don't miss your bus. On the other hand, your car is waiting for you and ready whenever you want to go.

I used to think the same. But then I tried to take the bus and after some years of using public transport I no longer think of my car as a stress-free way to get to the office. Let's take a closer look at how you use your car...

• You go to the garage, sit in your car and drive away, right? What about all the things you need to do for this? Your car doesn't go to the gas station by itself. You have to take care of this. Everything we need to take care of adds a certain level of stress to our lives.
• You then drive to your office. If your drive is a pleasant one, you're quite a lucky guy. For the rest of us, there are traffic jams, annoying red lights and most annoying: other drivers. If those other drivers would take the bus, driving to work would be so much nicer. If they weren't driving like crazy idiots, the way to work wouldn't take that much time. I wonder if they think the same about me.
• You finally reach your destination. You can now start your turns around the block to find a free parking lot. Have you ever thought about how much time you spend parking your car in a year?

On the other hand you could take the bus...

• Your day starts a little bit stressful on the first days. After a few days you no longer think about the bus schedule, you simply know when you have to go to reach the bus without any stress.
• That's it. Now you've time for yourself. The bus driver takes care of all the other crazy idiots on the street and you don't have to find a parking lot.
  

Of course this only works if your home and your office are near public transport. But if you live in a city, chances for this aren't that bad. Maybe you should take a closer look at your local public transport system and start with a stressless commute tomorrow? If you do, try for a longer time. The first days when everything is new to you might not be as stress-free as you want, but this will get better every day...