(28 Nov 2017, 8:01 pm)OrangeArrow49 wrote Trust me, I know. That has always been my exact situation.

Don't feel like giving me a job, do you? I enjoyed working in the Metrocentre. I was usually on time, it would usually take 40-50 minutes or so to get to work and usually around 30 minutes to get back. 
Yes, I had considered getting the previous bus, that was even less reliable and would often involve waiting even longer in the cold. Admittedly, I would've been on time, and on some occasions very early. I didn't think of it as 'why should I?', but more I don't get paid to do that and the bus operators should make some effort to either stick to a reasonable timetable, or provide more information etc. 

I seriously thought it was a health risk waiting so long in the cold when the bus was late, not ideal conditions when the bus is on time or even when its early. Buses certainly have run late for years, and that can't be helped. The cold weather lost me the job rather than public transport issues. Disappointing, I was good at my job and I enjoyed it, but didn't like waiting in the cold or arriving late.  

Thank you for your reply. I think alternatives will be needed in the future is all I meant as in my opinion buses will get less and less reliable in years to come.   

Hopefully I will get another job soon, and hopefully the buses won't let me down! I am very employable.

Years ago, I relied on a bus on a half hourly frequency to get me to work in a shop.
It took roughly half an hour to do the journey, so I knew if I got the 10.20 bus, I could run the 5mins (used to compete, so was pretty nippy) and still have 5mins to spare before the shift started.

It didn't take much to make the bus late and quite often a doddery old person got in the way just as I got up to full speed.

It annoyed me at the time when the boss told me to get an earlier bus. Not because I was lazy and wanted the extra half hour in bed or in front of the telly, but because if I was late, it was never my fault.
It was the bus drivers fault, the car in fronts fault, the doddery old person who dawdled out in front of me or blocked the entrance to the shop...
If that bus turned up on time, if the car didn't drive so slow, if the doddery old person didn't dawdle, I would still be early.

I suppose the question is, how long do we give ourselves to ensure we aren't late? Get the earlier bus (and wait around as that's late too or has broken down)? The one before then?
Learning to drive and sacking off the bus still hasn't given me the answer - despite me having 20 odd years to come up with one.

It took 15 mins to get back from the office the other night. 2 hours to get there in the morning...