I grew up taking the bus on a regular basis. My school was walking distance from my home, but on lazy days, I would just hop on the bus and save myself maybe five minutes in doing so.
To me, it was a normal mode of transport. My parents hardly ever drove. Many of my friends took the bus to and from school, even though most of us came from financially comfortable families.
But now, when I tell people my five-year-old and I sometimes take the bus home from school, they gasp. It just doesn't make sense to them why someone who owns a functioning car would decide to put her child through the torture and hardship of being on the bus.
I admit that it's not easy. Sometimes the bus is packed. My son, at 115cm, can hardly keep himself upright while carrying his heavy backpack, and his nose if often right behind someone's butt. If we're lucky, someone offers him a seat, but mostly, he just stands on his own two feet. Sometimes we're both drenched in sweat. He even falls asleep while standing if he's really tired.
I am not preaching to anyone here, because on extremely hot days or when it rains, I also drive. But I feel that this "skill" is vastly neglected by Bangkokian parents. I teach my son to do this because I think being able to take public transport lets you help society, even in the smallest of ways, by not adding more burden to the already bad traffic. Showing him that it is a doable option and nothing to be disgusted by will hopefully lead him to use public transport when he grows up.
When I was in my early twenties, an older colleague, a hiso NYC-graduate, asked my other friend how she came to work. She said she took the bus. The older colleague practically shuddered: "You know, I don't know anyone in my circle who takes the bus. I thought it was for, like, construction workers and maids." And she pranced off, probably to go and add a few more spritzes of her perfume to dilute the smell of working class people she might have been in contact with during that brief conversation.
At first I thought she was strange, but after that I met a lot of people who share the same opinion when it comes to taking the bus. To them, the bus is for poor people who can't afford to Uber. Anyone with a decent income should not stoop down to that level.
Most middle-class kids today are chauffeured to school in a private car. Not that they realise -- I see that most of them are too busy staring into their smartphones. It could be out of convenience -- we know how poorly connected and dangerous Bangkok is. But if that becomes their norm, they will never see the point of taking the bus when they grow up. That means more private cars, worse traffic, and no hope for the public transportation system to improve. Even those who don't have a car consider Uber/Grab to be their preferred mode of transport.
Seeing how awesome Grab and Uber are with their services, I hope they consider running their own buses one day. Let's just hope they don't get into trouble like GrabBike and UberMOTO.