What's with the bus love? I grew up in London where the underground train system (or 'tube' as we like to call it) is a horribly stuffy, cramped, often broken transit system with no natural light or fresh air. So imagine my glee when I discovered buses for the first time. It was literally a ray of sunshine in my commutes and travels. Ever since then, whichever city I've lived in, its been the most fun way to get around while exploring it and I've been hooked!
Most used bus maps:
Central London Night Buses
Lower Manhattan Buses
Recommended bus apps:
London: never found anything better than bookmarking the official TFL mobile website and entering the bus stop number.
San Francisco: the Pocket Muni worked best for me and was almost always accurate, though it does cost a dollar.
Sightseeing: i'm a huge fan of open bus tours of new cities I visit and the Big Bus Tours app is the only one i've found so far.
Memorable bus routes:
10 (London, UK): When I used to live in Olympia, this bus took me to through Kensington, along Hyde Park, through Oxford Street, and up to Kings Cross. A wonderful bus both for sightseeing and getting around west London.
N1 (London, UK): If I ever missed the last train home, this would be the fail safe bus to get be back home to London Bridge and fast.
43 (London, UK): From where I used to work in the Square Mile all the way to my sister's house in Highgate, this bus would weave through the best parts of north London.
M15 (New York, USA): This took my from Houston St all the way up 1st Ave to central park. On a Sunday morning I would grab a coffee in Noho and then ride this uptown.
M5 (New York, USA): Wish I had discovered this earlier, goes all the way south down Broadway to Wall St and was a wonderful way of getting to work in the Spring and Summer. Especially loved the Select Service on the way back from work up Water St.
M86 (New York, USA): An absolute joy taking this from the Upper East through Central Park to the bars and cafes on Amsterdam Ave.
30-Stockton (San Francisco, USA): I only lived in the Marina for a couple of months and the journey to my work in SOMA took 45 minutes. But going down Chestnut St, past Fisherman's Wharf, through Little Italy and parts of China Town in the quiet hours of 7 in the morning was a wonderful way to start the day.
47-Van Ness (San Francisco, USA): Wherever I am in SF I always seem to end up on this bus. Going up the spine of SF, along Mission St and Van Ness, its difficult not to find yourself defaulting to this bus when lost.
What are yours?