Tag Archives: buses

Brissos don’t do public transport.

Brissos don’t do public transport.

There are few exceptions to this rule (see “When public transport is OK”).

Brissos will know very little about bus and train routes, or methods of payment for public transport. They always drive wherever they need to go. They insist that Brisbane is that kind of city: you just need your car to get around. It is unthinkable to have to depend on public transport.

This would make no sense to a Brisso

If they work in the city they will drive into town and park in a specially designated car park. In the unlikely event that the Brisso has not been given a car space at work, they will rent/buy one in the CBD.

Brissos are indeed aware that there is a general idea among educated people that people should use public transport more and use their cars less, especially in the city. They think this is a good idea – the traffic is unbearable these days – and they will argue that other people who don’t really need their cars should stop driving through the city. Ideally trucks should be banned from the CBD. Coro Drive, and Kingsford Smith Drive are out of control, and getting to the airport is near impossible.

Most Brissos are unashamed about their preference to drive. They just don’t have the time to use public transport. Some Brissos will say that they get sick on buses.

Others explain that they need their cars because they often have to drive to site meetings or to see clients, or get to the airport.

All Brissos have strong feelings of nostalgia for the trams, even if they were before their time. They think Brisbane would be a much better city if we still had the trams. Brissos praise Melbourne’s tram system and think trams are cool, unlike other forms of public transport.

F.decorate(_ge(‘photo_notes’), F._photo_notes).notes_go_go_go(114086449, ‘http://farm1.static.flickr.com/19/114086449_557eada438_t.jpg’, ’3.1444′);

Last day of Brisbane trams, 1969 by David Stephensen
last day on brisbane trams. 1969.
Photo by David Stephenson, Flickr.

If challenged about their resistance to public transport Brissos will say that they’ve done their time. They used to travel by public transport all the time. They will be referring back to their childhoods when they sometimes opted to catch public transport home from their private school, because of the social scene on that particular bus or train. They were usually driven to school in the mornings by one or other parent, but in the afternoons public transport offered some social benefits that outweighed the stigma.