Some bus trips in Hell and vicinity

Erik Strand, 19.02.2025

Last summer I had the pleasant experience of spending a six days’s holiday in my own country, in the Norwegian county Trøndelag – two days in Trondheim, two days in Malvik and two days in Stjørdal. The latter municipality contains the internationally somewhat well-known suburb with the name Hell. While I in general enjoy bus trips on vacations, a couple of bus trips passing Hell were a more mixed pleasure. Other people have commented upon the tendency to make sundry activities dependent upon having a smartphone, as well as the benefits of not beeing addicted to one’s smartphone. I will give one example from Norway. I managed to take the bus without a smartphone, but not without discussion.

On July 1st, I walked from Best Western Hotel in Malvik municipality to Stjørdal, Trøndelag’s second largest town. I walked via the bus stop closest to the hotel, Midtsandan. When I reached Stjørdal, I wanted to take the bus back to Midtsandan. I entered the bus and did what I usually do when entering a bus in Norway – holding forth my bank card and telling the bus driver where I wanted to go. The bus driver replied that one could not pay by card; on this bus one could pay by app. As I cannot use apps on my cell phone, I turned around and walked out of the bus. Then I said that I had to use some hundreds of NOK (Norwegian currency) on taxi to the place where I was going, followed by some not so nice words I do not want to repeat here. I added that I found it unreasonable that in order to drive this distance (19 km), I would have to spend hundreds of NOK on a taxi or thousands of NOK on buying a smartphone.

As a reply to my statement, the driver could inform me that one could also pay via SMS. I did have my cell phone with me, so I was able to pay and take the bus back. If I had been less willing to quarrel, the end of the story could have been that I wasted hundreds of NOK on a taxi, as the information that I could pay via SMS came only after I had uttered my opinion on how unreasonable it was that one had to posess a smartphone in order to be a passenger. The day after, I read at the same bus stop that one could also by with cash, but that was somewhat more expensive.

On July 4th, I had planned to take a trip from Stjørdal to Hommelvik, the centre of Malvik municipality, and walk around. I chose taking the train to Hommelvik. Taking the bus was 100 % possible, but not that tempting after my experience three days earlier. In Hommelvik I found out that I wanted to take the bus, not the train, back to Stjørdal. The reason was that I would then get half an hour more to stroll around in Hommelvik and still have time enough for dinner before the plane homewards. At the bus stop, probably the most central busstop in Malvik municipality, I studied the information on the wall concerning arrivals and payment. From my trip three days earlier, I remembered that one could pay the ticket by sending SMS ‘VOKSEN’ to 2027. The information on the wall was however fit to confuse a bit. I could read that one should send SMS to for example ‘BARN1S’ or ‘VOKSEN2S’ (barn = child, voksen = adult). In this context ‘1S’ or ‘2S’ referred to the number of zones one passed through. The price could vary from about NOK 43 for one zone to about NOK 178 for four zones. I think NOK 20 was added to the price if one paid with cash. I looked carefully to see if I could find information about how many zones I would be driving through. The only information I found, was that one could find information on AtB’s website. Without a functioning smartphone, that information was not available. I guessed that it was a matter of only one zone, as this possibility fitted best with what I had txted in order to pay three days earlier. I could however not be sure, so I opted for paying with cash.

I entered the bus, held forth a banknote and said “Stjørdal”. Do you not have a phone?”, was the bus drivers answer. I sensed something reproachful in the way he talked to me, as if it were a sin entering his bus without a smartphone. I said, that yes, I did have a phone with me, and I had planned to pay by SMS. I added that the information at the bus stop said that how much one should pay by SMS, depended on how many zones on wanted to pass by. As there was no available information on the division into zones, I had hoped that I could pay NOK 20 more instead of guessing wildly. The bus driver then told me that there was only one zone. I then asked if it was OK if I found a seat and send ‘VOKSEN’ to 2027, and that was in order.

I managed to get those bus trips I wanated and pay for them. I still have an experience that what used to be a dayly routine like shopping in the grocery store, has become a demanding task where one can feel judged as an outcast if one does not have a smartphone. That is a regrettable development. Some people find good reasons for not having a smartphone. Society should not make a lot of unnecessary problems for those who opt not to have a smartphone.

Picture: Bjoertvedt at Wikimediia Commons