My First Time.......

You must be wondering, first time of what? Actually, it sounds very silly, but in the last 7 years of me being in Muscat city, on Friday for the very first time in these 7 years I travelled by Bus. Travelling by bus is such a common thing and really it does not need to be mentioned. But here I have a story behind it. I have always been very skeptical of travelling by Bus in this city. Public transport system is very poor in Muscat city. Majority of the people here own a car or they travel by Taxi or shared Taxis. Travelling by bus in any city of the world is very common, but here people have this thing in their mind that only labor class people travel by bus or people with very low income because they cannot afford a cab. For me, all my life I have travelled by Bus in Mumbai and when I came here, I was really shocked with this mentality. If you tell someone that you travelled by Bus, then it will quite an amusement for them.

The other problem here of people not travelling by Bus is that it's network and connectivity is very poor. Normally there are buses which only run through the main roads, so if one has to travel in the inside parts of the city then it becomes a hassle. The taxis are very expensive so there is a concept of shared taxi also, which makes it reasonable for the labor class people to use it.

For me this weekend hubby was not in town, and I was home alone. I wanted to step out for some work but that was a long travel, I calculated the Taxi fare and it was a big amount almost equivalent to 3000 INR to and fro. Shared Taxi I do not prefer at all, because it gets cramped up with unknown people in that small space. There is a bus stop just right below my building, so I thought, I will try it out for once and see how it goes. The bus ticket was costing me 200 INR so there was no doubt that it was way beyond economical for me. From my window, I could see the bus coming and as soon as I had the sight I ran down and managed to get the bus. If I would have travelled by cab it would have taken me 25 mins to reach the destination, which was around 20 Kms drive, by bus it took me 50 mins, exact double time. I had time so that did not bother me much.

To be very honest I was very nervous, because I was also wondering about dealing with the language challenge as most of the drivers only speak Arabic, but then that was not an issue, the drivers did speak English. Needless to say, the bus ride was very comfortable, at both the places it was point to point for me, so it was not a hassle at all. I am going to do this more often now whenever I have to travel to this place.

There is a swing and a A/C waiting room also at the bus stop. I wonder what's the use of the swing. Just an amusement.

These buses normally go at a 50% capacity.

That's the Airport stop, from here there were quite a few people who got into the bus.

Me on my first bus ride in Muscat city, will always be a good memory for me.

Sometimes such simple things of life can also become so complicated. To think of it's just a bus ride, but it took me 7 years to do this first one. Now I have a little confidence and I am sure I will do it more often. The other routes I am not sure of, but this one is simple for me and I can do it more often.

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