It’s been said many times that you can’t force people to use the bus. But one thing being missed is human nature itself.

When it comes down to it, would you rather drive yourself somewhere or share that space with other people you don’t know at a time not of your choosing?

I’ve personally been fortunate that I’ve lived in a relatively good area for public transport with frequent bus services that I can use. They obviously take longer than I’d like, but as I walk to work and use the bus for leisure, time is not important to me. However, it is to others.

I have a friend that lives just outside a semi- rural market town in a new build estate. He works from home and travels to the office 2/3 days a week. He has driven all his life. At the very end of his back garden he has a gate with a bus stop less than 2 minutes away. The buses from that stop operate four times an hour to within 5 minutes walk of his place of work. Two buses an hour via a quick route and two an hour via a slightly longer route.

He can buy a ticket valid on any 5 days in a month for just £19, perfect for his scenario. He can keep his car for the random trips he makes to play football or snooker. But he won’t use the bus for work, despite it being a viable option. Why? He told me he’d have to get out of bed 30 minutes earlier as he “knows what the traffic is like”. He and other like him are causing that traffic he is complaining about!

He isn’t the only one. I have family member that works from home 5 days a week. She lives on a bus route operating every 15 minutes to the place she does her shopping and makes use of the local services. £1.70 each way that would cost her and it would take around 20 minutes, but she uses the car instead! This is because she does her weekly shop there, so she can’t drag an ALDI trolley laden with goods on to the bus!

Two non-scientific real world examples of where a bus is clearly a genuinely viable option for the actual main journey being made, but for different reasons the people involved would rather drive.

If that sort of thing is happening where bus services are comparatively decent and at an affordable price, what hope is there of persuading long term car users travelling to and from areas where the bus service is not so good at present?