In recent years, conversation around public transport has been increasing. In part, this is due to the environmental benefits that using public transport has. 

But if we put the environmental benefits aside, using the local bus is beneficial for you and your community in many ways.

Here are 5 ways using your local bus benefits you and your community. 

Cuts down traffic

Traffic is almost always a problem around urban areas. This is due to a lot of individual vehicles trying to go to their individual places. But oftentimes, the vehicles have only 1 or 2 passengers in them at any given time. This means that despite the long lines of traffic, there aren’t usually that many people commuting.

Imagine how much quicker a journey would be if 120 people got 2 buses into the city instead of 120 cars waiting in a queue. The traffic would be significantly reduced, and with that so would the stress of sitting in unmoving traffic. 

By reducing the traffic, you also allow more freedom for people to cycle or walk. Having large numbers of cars on the road can be unnerving for people who might want to opt for these options. 

Of course, taking a bus everywhere you want to go is perhaps not always feasible. But choosing to swap out an individual vehicle for a bus for occasional trips will help contribute to reducing traffic.

Allows freedom of movement for those who don’t or can’t drive

It can often be difficult to see the value of something when you don’t use it yourself. This is the case with local buses. In many countries, local bus routes are being stopped due to budget cuts, or a decline in usage. But for many people who cannot drive, whether that be elderly people, disabled people or young people, the local bus is their lifeline to community activities and events. In remote areas, elderly people might want to take the bus every week to a group activity, or young people might want to take the bus to meet their friends in the local town.

The local bus enables them to have the freedom to meet up with people and be an active member of the community. With the rise of loneliness amongst elderly people, having a local bus is vital for their wellbeing and connection with the world outside of their home. 

Encourages conversation and community

Driving an individual vehicle often means isolation. If you drive to work everyday, it’s likely that you will switch on a podcast, listen to music or turn on the radio. You will unlikely have a conversation with someone unless it is on the phone.

The local bus is almost an unspoken meeting place for people. Whether or not you intentionally communicate with others on the bus, you will still be more involved in the ins and outs of the local community whether that’s through overhearing conversations, speaking with someone on the bus, looking out the window or just observing your surroundings. For school children who take the bus, this is the opportunity to foster friendships and prepare for the day at school.

Whatever the age, without needing to focus on driving, conversations can be held for the entire journey, making it more relaxing and arguably a better use of time. 

In addition to this, with the shift towards electric buses, the environment inside the bus is now much quieter, making it even easier to hold conversations.

Improves physical health 

One of the benefits of using the local bus is how much it can improve your physical health. When driving personal vehicles, oftentimes the vehicle is parked right by your home, and the location you are going to very likely has a car park right next to it.

In taking your personal vehicle on this journey, you remove any need to walk or move your body.

When taking the bus, it is rare to have the bus stop right outside your home, and the same goes for the location you are travelling to. This means that for your bus journey, you will have to walk more than if you took an individual vehicle. On top of this, you might also have to stand at the bus stop for a while or change buses to get to your destination, all of which involves using your body more than when taking a personal vehicle.

Not only this, but fossil fuel personal vehicles can emit emissions into the vehicle while you are driving, and especially in summer when you might have the windows or the roof open.
While it is possible that emissions will enter the bus as well, by using an electric bus, the air conditioning is often up to date and working well, and there are no emissions being emitted by the bus for you to inhale.

Safer than personal vehicles

In addition to all the points above, there is one more benefit to taking the local bus which impacts the community greatly, which is how much safer it is than taking a personal vehicle. 

According to the American Public Transportation Association, public transportation is “ten times safer per mile than traveling by car because it has less than a tenth the per-mile traffic casualty (injury or death) rate as automobile travel.” 

While this study is from the US, we can estimate that the statistics are similar in Europe, since it is much more common to hear of individual vehicle accidents compared with public transport accidents. 

The study goes on to say, “Public transit-oriented communities are five times safer because they have about a fifth the per capita traffic casualty rate as automobile-oriented communities.” 

Car accidents have a significant impact on communities. By using the local bus, people are able to ensure that their journey will likely be a very safe one, and that they will get to their destination and back easily and without any consequences.

Overall, there are undeniable benefits to taking the local bus, for individuals and for the community as a whole. And on top of these benefits are the great advantages for the environment.

How can you replace some trips with an individual vehicle with your local bus?