Public transport

Map over the "tube" here in Stockholm.

A bus here in Stockholm.

I have always had this love hate relationship to public transport in Stockholm. Even though the subway trains, other trains and buses pretty much always come on time and often. But there is one time of the year when there is a complete chaos and getting to places by public transport is a pain in the ass. WINTER. It snows, roads are snowed in, rails are snowed in and slippery. Trains get cancelled, delayed ets. I have a good experience of it because I moved around alot and it took me 4 hours (normal time, without delays) daily to get to and from highschool.

When transport delays or gets cancelled (mostly during the rush hours) the amount of people gathering on stations and bus stops is unbelievable. People, Swedsih people, who normally line up and are friendly, turn into beasts! They push, they yell, they complain, it (WOW a new Kesha video is on MTV, Blah blah, blah, love her) becomes pretty scary I must say.

This winter was the worst chaos, they even stopped few lines of subway for days, but I didn't get to "experience" it, since I don't go to school, neither do I work.

I did experience it at the end of that chaotic week, mostly the aftermath of it. Had to catch the train to meet up with mum, and it was 30 minutes late. People started to gather as close to the rails as possible. As soo as the train pulled in you could feel the negativity, the tention, the stress, like the only thing everyone was thinking was: "If I don't board the train first and wont get a sit I wont survive!". So the crowd started pushing in as soon as HALF of the passengers got to exit, there were still people getting off. That didn't stop anyone, it looked like flooding. I observed annoyed, thinking: "Just let the people out and your fatass will thank you for standing up instead of sitting". At last there was a guy with down syndrome close to the doors, letting passengers out, blocking the way for raging crowd trying to enter. Why can't everyne be more like that boy? THEY STARTED YELLING AT HIM AND PUSHING!!!

He didn't give in, told them to stop and let people out.

This is people getting on a late train, imagine being with them in a plane crash where their lives are in danger??? I really think everyone should get to see documentaries about crowds and unusual situations, from a psychologists point of view, where they get to see the consequences caused by rage and better ways of dealing with it.

Apart from that I LOVE public transport here! Bus seats are comfy, it is very reliable, also even far away areas and not very people dense areas have great public transport, that operates every 15 or 30 minutes. Compared to Australian buses with only one door (some, but not many have more that one door), coin system, (they did introduce a go-card though) and the aircon, always FREEZING on the bus. Buses are never there on time, bus drivers do not know their stops, so if you are not familiar with the area there is always a chance that the bus driver wont be able to help you. In Sweden every stop is said out loud by this nice pre-recorded voice, not in Aus.

I like the colour of the buses and the nice bussies (if you get a nice one). On my way to Brissie there was this FAT ass busdriver, that sold me a ticket to the airport which was NOT enough (idiot), she was rude to Emelie because she struggled with the suitcase and it took her a minute to board the bus that was TOO early anyways. Fat  bus driver was in Christmas spirit though, she had two MASSIVE plastic christmas tree ear rings. That def took the eyes away from her quadriple chin, NOT!

In Estonia, buses are pretty similar to Aus, you never know when they will get there. What's worse is that they look like shit, people are rude, you would never know what to expect, people might have fish or meat or whatever in their grocery bags close to your nose. Although stops are displayed on a screen before every stop.

I wonder if anyone will even read this. Haha

So after experiencing other public transports I actually LOVE Sl, apart from few weeks during the winter.