4. Dear Green Bus

Dear Green Bus,

I admire your waist to ceiling windows and I know enough about engineering to admire your structural ingenuity.

I like your red arrows which show which way is forward, and I like your green pants and wheels and hat.

But, Green Bus, I can’t help thinking that you’ve chosen that lovely lurid green to convince me that you’re environmentally sound.

BP did the same thing years ago.

I’ll bet, Green Bus, that your researchers found that some reasons why people switch to buses is to use less petrol, to save money and to be environmentally sound.

Green is a good colour for all of these.

It also means go.

Do you remember a time before marketing research, when people sold goods instead of packaging?

No, I dont remember it either.

That must have been back in the days before buses kneeled on request and when black people had to catch different buses or sit up the back. You would know, Green Bus, was there ever a time when women weren’t welcome on your seats? I suppose buses have been the prerogative of the white working classes and working class women have always had more freedom than classy women or black folk.

Green Bus, I’m no environmental fairy myself, but I dress the part so I can’t talk.

I am then,

your fellow green mask wearer,

Me.