I used to really hate buses in Birmingham. You could get aclimatised to them and they didn't seem so bad, but I think that was more to do with passive smoking of pot than any actual reduction in disgust.
But even on the rare occasion that they were clean, and the air reasonably smoke free, they still annoyed me. For a start, every bus went to, or came from the City Centre. Bar none that I can think of. (Actually, there was a bus once an hour that went from University to West Brom, but I'm not sure that once an hour actually counts as a service - just a bus). Consequently they were useless.
From my apartment here, there are about 6 buses, none of which end up at the same place, and they start from at least 3 different places too! And they are regular-ish. Most come every 10 minutes or so, and when I want to go to work they come every 3-5 minutes. (Slight pity about the way back, when they don't, particularly when the rain is as biblical as it was today).
Nonetheless, there is an actual bus network, and you can get almost everywhere on this island in a maximum of two buses.
Then there is the MRT system. Until about 5 years ago this was just 2 lines, which is already 4. The latest stretch opened on Saturday, and the Dodgess and I were among the first to use it on Sunday. It is very swish, even if it doesn't quite have the class of Washington DC did when it first opened.
A 5th line is in construction, and they will shortly be designing a sixth. I myself am designing an extension to the very first one over near the bridge to Malaysia. After being in the UK, where everything is about using things better, about doing more with less, it is quite refreshing to have a client who has ambition, and an ability to see things done.
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