The Bus Isn’t Just a Bus: What It Opens Up

A few years ago, I (Rich) did some research that was later published on driving cessation in younger older adults (that’s a mouthful, huh!), people who, for various reasons, had to stop driving earlier than expected. What stood out wasn’t just the practical challenges of not having a car, but the deeper psychological and social meaning that driving held for many people.

For some, driving was more than just a mode of transport, it was freedom, identity, and control over their own lives. Losing it wasn’t just about figuring out alternative ways to get around; it was about navigating a shift in how they saw themselves.

The research also touched on loneliness and perceived loneliness, not just the logistical difficulties of getting from A to B, but the way limited transport options could quietly shrink a person’s world. Less access to friends, fewer spontaneous outings, more reliance on others. Over time, that feeling of agency, the ability to decide when, where, and why to go somewhere, became just as significant as the transport itself.

Which brings me to the conversations we’ve been having in the Being Humanly community.

Buses popped up. Helping people learn how to use the bus, making transport more accessible, ensuring people know how to navigate public routes. And sure, those are useful skills. But if we get stuck in the mechanics of the bus itself, we miss the bigger picture.

Because the bus isn’t about the bus. It’s about everything the bus enables.

Beyond the Bus: What’s Really at Stake?

When we focus too much on the logistics, how to read timetables, how to tap on and off, how to plan a route, we risk reducing independence to a skill set rather than recognising it as a fundamental right.

Because the real issue isn’t just knowing how to take the bus, it’s having a life that requires one.

It’s about going to see friends because you chose to.

It’s about heading to a job that you decided was right for you.

It’s about accessing places, spaces, and experiences that matter to you, not just the ones designated as important by a support plan.

If we’re not talking about these things, then teaching someone how to take a bus is just another service task, not a step toward real autonomy.

When people can’t access transport, it’s rarely just about transport. It’s about being cut off from the world, from community, from opportunities, from the basic right to move through life on your own terms.

And that’s the real issue: not just mobility, but belonging.

If someone doesn’t have the confidence to take a bus alone, it’s not just about learning the route, it’s about feeling safe and welcome in public spaces.

If someone doesn’t see a reason to go anywhere, it’s not about transport, it’s about connection, relationships, and purpose.

If someone struggles to access their community, it’s not their individual problem, it’s about how we design our societies, services, and systems.

In other words: transport isn’t just about getting from A to B, it’s about whether people have a reason, a right, and the real ability to go wherever they want.

The Bus as a Gateway, Not a Goal

It’s easy to focus on tasks in human service, tick the box, help the person learn the skill, move on. But if we stop there, we’ve just reinforced the very thing we’re trying to undo: a system where people are supported to function, but not supported to flourish.

If we help someone learn how to take a bus but don’t help them build a life that requires one, what have we actually done?

The bus isn’t the point. The point is:

How does access to transport create real opportunities?

How do people shape their own sense of freedom?

How do we remove barriers beyond just ‘knowing how’ to navigate a system?

Because until we’re answering those questions, we’re still stuck at the bus stop.

And That’s Exactly Why Being Humanly Exists

Being Humanly isn’t here to help people learn how to use buses. We’re here to ask why it matters and what deeper shifts are needed to make sure people actually have the freedom, choice, and confidence to move through the world in the way they want.

Because at the end of the day, it was never about the bus, it was always about the journey of a person’s self-defined, self-directed, self-determined good life.

And if that’s the conversation you want to be part of, you’re in the right place.