Business Friendly Bus

[customersruinmylife]

My friend just told me this story.

She was on the bus into town. The buses in my area aren't the best in the world. Most of them are over ten years old and have seen better days. The bus pulled into a stop and picked up a smartly dressed woman who was carrying a laptop bag. She paid, and immediately started pacing the bus, looking at the floor and walls, looking for something. She seemed to give up her search and sat down, opening her laptop. After a couple of minutes, she stormed to the front of the bus to speak to the driver.

SC: Excuse me? What's the name of the Wi-Fi on this bus? I can't seem to find any. Plus I need somewhere to plug in my laptop. The battery is low.
Driver: We don't have Wi-Fi or sockets for laptops.
SC: What??? That is absolutely OUTRAGEOUS! I have work to do!

The driver completely ignored her. She stormed back to her chair, speaking to people as she went along.

SC: Can you believe this?? How can they not have the facilities for this???

Lady, it's a bus. The buses in my area only pick up the elderly 99% of the time (I am not exaggerating, seriously) I don't think there's a demand for it. Plus, has anyone ever heard of Wi-Fi on a bus?

[Eisa]

I think some Greyhound buses on the East Coast now have that.But...that's it.

What an odd woman.

[RealUnimportant]

Long distance coaches *might* but even they are few & far between; I only recall seeing it mentioned on the blurb on two coaches during my many recent motorway drives... Even here in That London(tm) the regular buses don't have wi-fi, and they especially don't have power inverters! Perhaps she mistook it for a train?

[Lyse]

But how will she show everyone around her how important she is without an outlet and wifi?!

[fireheart]

A few local buses around here allow for Wi-Fi, but only to a certain extent. It's also a matter of pick and choose-not all buses are equipped for it. Like CRML, quite a number of ours are between 5-10 years old.

[LillFilly]

Never heard of wi-fi on a bus either.

[Iseeyouthere]

Wi-fi on the bus?

You know what that'll encourage? People will just sit on a bus, going around in circles, hogging up a seat, for who-knows how long... all because they want to use the Interweb.

You use the bus to get from point A to Point B.
Its public transport... not a moving Internet Cafe.

And I'm sure that people can survive 10-30 mins of no Interwebs as well.
If I can survive three days with-out Pepsi, anything is possible.

Wi-fi on a public bus... no.
On a long-travel COACH, yes.

[dragon_wings]

When I took a coach bus from Baltimore to NYC and back they had outlets and wifi. But that's a 4 hour trip so a phone can die in that time. The girl sitting next to me on the way to NYC had a iPad and used the wifi. And both ways I used the outlet to charge my phone.
I use public transit everyday here in Baltimore. Wifi on the buses? *laughs*

Eta: the wifi on the coach was horrible. It was so weak and it was shared by a bunch of people.

[notlovinit]

I feel a bit spoiled now, because Ive heard of it for the public transit we have here.
Okay granted, it is NOT on any buses, but we do have it on the front runner, which is a commuter train. I've never taken it though. Smiley eagle posts about our public transit sometimes.

[ArcticChicken]

Its public transport... not a moving Internet Cafe.

A moving internet cafe would be pretty cool, though.

[Teskeria]

If I can survive three days with-out Pepsi, anything is possible.

The HORROR!! 3 days without Pepsi? I call Pepsi my anti-homicide drink. lol. I have actually had co-workers who will buy one with their own cash if they see I don't have a pepsi. One place I worked allowed my daughter in past the security locks when she mentioned 'Mom left her pepsi at home and she doesn't have any cash today to buy one' while offering the pepsi to the receptionist. They sent her right back to me.

[firecat88]

The plane between Dallas and Atlanta when we were going to North Carolina for my sister's wedding had wifi. However, there were three problems with using it-

1) The plane had to be at a certain elevation for it to work
2) You could only be on it for fifteen minutes at a time, and only that first fifteen minute session was free
3) The actual connection speed was, apparently, pretty terrible.

My dad tried it for those fifteen minutes, which was how I knew about that last one. I decided it wasn't worth it, though, so I didn't even bother trying it.

[Linda]

Greyhound Cardiff to Swansea has WiFi, as does Megabus on some journeys. The difference is that these are either commuter buses or longer distance journeys of at least an hour. Little local buses? Ha! You're lucky if they turn up or don't break down during the journey! Daft bint!

Bus adventures are fun. Especially in Chavsville where I'm unfortunate enough to live.

[Mikkel]

Some of the buses in Copenhagen have WiFi. I have never tried it so I don't know if the speed is any good.

[smileyeagle1021]

I feel a bit spoiled now, because Ive heard of it for the public transit we have here.
Okay granted, it is NOT on any most buses, but we do have it on the front runner, which is a commuter train. I've never taken it though. Smiley eagle posts about our public transit sometimes.

There, fixed that for you
The express buses between Salt Lake and Utah counties have wifi on them... and even limited power outlets... they are a fortune to ride though (if the school weren't paying for my pass it would be cheaper to use Frontrunner to go from Salt Lake to Ogden than the 817 express bus from Sandy to Orem).

eta- for those who aren't notlovinit (or other Utahns), Salt Lake to Ogden is 15 miles longer of a trip than Sandy to Orem... and it's $4.75 for that Salt Lake to Ogden trip but $5 for the Sandy to Orem.