High-Tech Bus Station
I took the regional inter-city bus for the first time yesterday and it literally blew my mind. In all my travels, I don’t think I’ve ever come across such a technologically advanced and highly organised bus station.
I exited Schiphol Airport to take a bus to Aalsmeer and there was actually a departures screen for the buses, indicating the bus number, the destination, and the departure time. Yes, you read that correctly, a departure screen for BUSES!!! I’m still getting over it…
And these are not long-distance, international, or Eurolines/Greyhound type buses I’m talking about here. These are just the regular city buses that go between neighbouring towns and where you buy your ticket from the driver.
This is a bus station, not an airport!
They even have “platforms” for the buses, kind of like a train station, with certain bus numbers corresponding to certain platforms. There is a separate screen at the entrance that indicates which designated bus stop each line number operates from (e.g. bus 198 leaves from platform B8).
Precisely 08:34:05
But the best part about it is that the current time (indicated on every screen on every bus platform) is specified to the second. I’m not fucking kidding. I even took this photo (at 8:34:05) just to prove it. And I can confirm that my bus arrived exactly 42 seconds early.
