Public Transportation

Tram in the winter

While in Norway I have taken every form of public transportation you can imagine. My monthly transportation pass was around $60 and gave me unlimited use of the bus, tram, metro and ferry (I think the commuter train too, but I never used that).

When I first came here I was so overwhelmed and though I'd never figure it out! It seemed so confusing at first but after taking it daily for 6 months I have the main routes memorized and can get myself to any part of the city!

It's very convenient to be able to get all around the city this way and is much much cheaper than the gas I pay for back home in my gas guzzling truck (which I get to drive again soon!). And of course there is always free entertainment! There's the the extremely drunk lady at 2:00pm falling off her seat, the girl in front of me with a headful of dreds and objects hidden in her hair, it's like a game to watch everyone around me.

Then there was the 2 months I wasn't in town enough, because of all my traveling, that I couldn't justify buying a pass so I just rode for free. It was a bit of an adrenaline rush every time! The metro ride from city center to school is only 4 stops, but one morning I had to sneak on/off 3 times to avoid the ticket control guys! It was like a test if I could scan the metro I wanted for the car that didn't have any officials and then scan the platform to make sure it was safe to stay on (or get off). Some how, I never got caught! Lucky me! The fine is a few hundred bucks (yikes)

However, I am also extremely sick of taking public transportation. Even though Oslo is very reliable and keeps real time monitors at each stop, sometimes they're late. It also takes forever! The first half of my stay here it took minimally 45 minutes to get to campus, sure the tram went practically door to door so was very convenient, but I hated the time it took (it's also very packed at rush hour). By March I figured out that I could get off at the center station and take the much faster metro and it shaved the time down to 20-30 minutes, but still annoying.

The Tube!

Not only do I have experience with Norway's transportation system but I also now know the systems very well in: Krakow, Venice, Rome, Chania, Paris and London. Figuring out the metro system in Paris was quite the challenge and after successfully doing so I was so proud of myself! French looks a million times different on the signs than it sounds when spoken! Rome is filled with crazy drivers who have no concept of traffic rules. Venice doesn't label their bus stops, and the bus doesn't say the name of the upcoming stop or have a map with the stops on it (very difficult if you're new there!). Chania is definitely on island time, very irratic and was never on time.

I must give props to London's Tube (metro).. it was hands down the best of the different systems. Everywhere you look are maps, signs, directions and people to talk to. Part of my ease could have also been because of the English factor. After London I would say Oslo had the best system. Even though it's a tiny capital city, they do know how to provide very reliable and easy to follow transportation.

Navitagting public transportation in all these big cities has given me a sort of confidence... no matter where I get thrown I now know I can figure out how to get from A-->B, so bring it on!

London and Paris were the most strict on paying for the transportation, you actually have to put your ticket through the machine to get through. All of the other locations had no barriers to use the transportation and I may or may not have used free public transportation at my other trip locations.

Even though I'm currently sick of the bus, I think I will soon miss it once I start paying for gas regularily again. Cities in the US could definitely learn a thing or two about public transportation from Europe! (Fort Collins for sure)

*Fun translation of the Oslo metro stops :)