Last weekend I was invited up to Belfast to visit and stay overnight some friends I went to school with. For this journey I had the choice of using Translink Goldline Service 273 from Omagh to Belfast or I could drive myself… which did I pick?

Cost
The Goldline 273 service costs £10 single or £15 for a day return. It is not currently possible to buy a return ticket for which the inward journey is on a different day than the outward journey. It is possible however possible to buy multi-journey cards which give a single journey cost of £7.40 (for 10 or 20 journeys – a saving of 20p on a day return or £5.20 on 2 singles) or £7.03 (for 40 journey topups – a saving of 94p on a day return or £7.94 on 2 singles). In December 2008 and January 2009 I was a daily commuter on the 273 06:25 service (returning on the 18:35 service) and used these multi-journey cards – whilst the cost savings for day returns may not be great they do allow you to get on the bus without having to queue for a ticket in the Europa. Anyway for the one-off journey I was taking I had to pay Translink £20 (for 2 single fares).

My car, a 2000 Renault Clio also has a number of costs associated with it, fuel being the main contributor. On my current commute on the A5 I average about 49mpg, on a journey to Belfast this falls to around 45mpg. The return journey to my friend’s house in Belfast is 145 miles – thus I’ll use 3.22 gallons of fuel for the journey – this equates to 14.64 litres and the cheapest petrol in Omagh currently costs £1.099 (ASDA) so the fuel for my return journey cost £16.09. Insurance and car tax cost me approximately 8 pence per hour but taking the bus does not reduce the cost of either of these – I still have to pay them annually as long as I have my car on the road.

The cost difference is even higher when you consider more than one person travelling together. If I had have been travelling with someone else the cost would have been £40 on the bus compared to £16.09 in the car.

Journey time
The 273 has 3 stops requiring a diversion off the main route – Ballygawley, Dungannon and Loughview P&R (Lurgan). These stops result in a total journey time of 105 minutes. The car journey can be done in around 75 minutes in good traffic conditions. The bus however does have the advantage of a bus lane on the M1 at peak times.

Timetable
The 273 timetable is good and I have few complaints. It is a regular service which runs every hour between 08:25 and 18:25 Monday to Friday. There are two early morning services at 06:25 and 06:55 and two evening services at 18:55 and 19:55. Saturdays also have a regular service which runs hourly during the day between 08:25 and 17:25 with an evening service at 18:55. Sundays are less regular but there are still 5 services spread throughout the day. The return times from Belfast are also regular. It would be nice to have a later return from Belfast if you were attending a show or evening event and wished to travel home on public transport.

Punctuality
The 273 is generally on-time and I haven’t experienced any cancellations or significant delays exceeding 15 minutes.

Comfort
Having used the early morning 273 service I can say that it is difficult to sleep comfortably on the Goldline buses. Chambers used to operate some of the 273 services and these were much more comfortable however I understand this arrangement has now finished which is a shame. In a normal sitting position the Goldline buses are fine and indeed I find it more relaxing sitting on a bus than driving my own car. Indeed I can’t actually sleep when I am driving – I can however sit back and relax watching a video, listening to music or playing a game on my iPhone when travelling on the bus. It’s a shame they don’t have onboard wifi as is available on some National Express services in England. This would have been useful when I was commuting as I did occasionally work on my laptop on the way home in the evening.

Conclusion
In summary taking the bus was:

• More expensive – it cost an extra £3.91 for the return journey over 2 days
• Longer – it took an extra 30 minutes to get to Belfast compared to driving at off-peak times
• A little restrictive – despite having a regular service it still means you have to make it to the bus depot at the right time

but it also was:

• More relaxing – I could rest and relax whilst travelling
• Better for the environment

As I had already travelled to and from work earlier in the day (a round-trip of 75 miles) I decided I needed a bit of rest nd relaxation so I ended up taking the bus.

So what’s my point?
If the government and Translink want us to use public transport more often the fare price must be cheaper than the cost of taking your own car. Surely more people would use it or at least be willing to consider it if say the single fare was say £7, a day return maybe £10 and an open return £12? A 52-seater bus full of people paying these prices is much more profitable than 10 people paying a tener!