First of all let me explain my situation: I live at Sunshine Coast, I work at Sunshine Coast, and I adore the Sunshine Coast lifestyle- no offence Brisbane, but I'm not much of a Brisbane City girl. Already this might raise a few problems. The Sunshine Coast University doesn't offer the courses I am interested in, and thus University of Queensland was my preference for Uni. However with this, I made a decision that I did not want to move to Brisbane, my life is on the Sunshine Coast and I'm not quite ready for the complete change. (As in the past few months most first-year's have pretty much had life altering changes!) So that leaves me with limited options: Move to Brisbane, or commute. Needless to say, I chose commuting. Many people endure the commuting lifestyle on an everyday basis. There are two main ways to commute, by public transport or by car. After experiencing both I have discovered there a long list of pro's and con's for both options which has made my choice of how I commute very challenging. Here is the list I came up with:
VS
Option 1) Public Transport- Often is the obvious choice, however it isn't as good as it seems.
Pros:
-Cheaper
-A sense of adventure: will you be able to find your way from point A to point B, ultimate independence
-You can study
-You can sleep
-You don't have to be stuck in traffic
-Ultimately, you can switch off
-You meet interesting people
-You might meet people going to UQ
-It teaches you life lessons and helps you grow
-It is pretty clean
-You get to see nice scenery
-Gives you plenty of time to yourself, to think or listen to music
Cons:
-Instead of 4 hours in the car, it takes me 6 hours in total (per day) to get from Nambour Railway Station to University Of Queensland, St Lucia campus. (On top of an 8 hour day of uni, 6 hours is a long time)
-It can often be quite expensive, with the 2 trains and bus I have to take one way to get to my destination, and then 1 bus and 1 train back- Even with a go card.
-You cannot really fully sleep because once you start to drift off you risk either missing your stop, being abruptly awoken by the overhead speaker announcing the millions of stops every 5 minutes or simply leaving your stuff, including laptop, unguarded.
-Travelling on public transport by yourself is actually kind of scary, who knows who you will meet.
-On somedays I finish at 6 o clock at night, thus meaning I am travelling on public transport between 6-9 at night, paranoia kicks in.
-In meeting new interesting people, you always get to meet the drunks, the crying babies, the druggos, the creepy people who stare, the people that feel the urge to sit right next to you even though there are many other seats on the train/bus, the 'tough' gangsta guys, the 'tough' gangsta girls, the people who you wouldn't want to meet in an alleyway and the list literally goes on. (Might I just add, I did not make up this list, but I have experienced all of these people on the train, just this year!)
-You always hear stories about people being threatened, robbed, raped, beaten etc on trains- not a comforting thought!
-There is no eating or drinking on public transport which makes the 3 hour trip very difficult.
-There is wireless internet however usually cuts out, and the paranoia makes you second guess bringing out your laptop.
-You have to leave an hour or two earlier than what you would in a car
-You get the random police checks/transport officers asking for you to whip out your go-card and than painfully having to listen to the many people whom haven't bought a ticket for various reasons.
-Public transport can be very unreliable at times, trains running late, buses running late, buses being full making you have to wait to the next bus, making you risk missing your train, forgetting your go-card... the transport people are not one's to listen to excuses
- The aircon is ALWAYS freezing whether it be hot or cold weather
-The mission to get off the train, to the car, in Nambour, is scary and a mission!
-The list goes on
So driving in a car is looking pretty good right about now... right? WRONG
Option 2: Driving in a car
Pros:
-2 hours quicker than public transport
-Time to be alone, uninterrupted thinking time, time to reflect
-You can listen and sing to music
-Only takes 1/2 tank of petrol = $20, not too bad cost-wise
-No waiting, just jump in your car and go to uni, and drive back home, no need to wait for trains and buses
-No sharing seats with strangers
-No creepy people
-You can drive straight home
-You can eat and drink (although might not be wise whilst driving, but you can always pull over)
-You can control the temperature of your surroundings
-
Cons:
-Traffic
-You have to pay attention the entire time
-It's tiring
-It often makes stopping at Fast food stores VERY easy and tempting and this forms BAD HABITS!
Okay the biggest con about driving needs it's own title and underline:
PARKING
As I go to uni all day, this means that I need parking that can accommodate me all day.
1) Paid parking, whilst the uni provides all-day parking for a reasonable price, this is usually full up by 8 in the morning. Next option- Casual parking, this is also usually full up by the latest, 9, as well as the costs per hour meaning I have to pay $1.50 an hour, which again, isn't that bad, however when I have to spend up to 8 hours parked, 8x1.50= $12 per day parking two days a week is $24.00, on top of petrol costs ($45.00) this can be quite expensive! Not to mention it means I need to have cash on me at all times, which being a teenager is not always possible! (I don't have a credit card either so that rules that option out)
The solution? Go early... Well on Monday's I don't need to be at class until 1, so if I am to successfully get a park I would need to leave at 6 in the morning, arrive at 8, try and find a park, then spend 5 hours studying or keeping myself entertained, followed by 5 hours of lectures and tutorials, followed by 2 hours of driving home to arrive at around 8... *maths calculation* that is a 14 hour day...
Next option: Try and find a park elsewhere... proves to be harder than it seems. I have driven around everywhere, even as far as Fairfield to find a parking spot free and without a limited parking time. I thought I was clever and found a nice quiet street to park on, not too far from the uni.. probably about 2km's, which I had make my parking home for a couple of weeks. To my surprise, I returned to my car one day to realise I had been visited by a Parking Infringement man, who decided to leave a lovely present on my car- a $50.00 parking fine. Next option..........?
So this leaves me with my, and I'm sure a lot of other's dilemma, to park or not to park.. that is the question!
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