Are You On The Bus Or In The Bus?

The question is something that we encounter quite often whether it be in reading articles or writing one.  Every day we take the bus to the office or drive the kids to school, and then it occurs to you, “… so am I on the bus or in the bus? Am I on the car or in the car?”

When to use “in” or “on” might not matter to most of us, but knowing how to use it in a sentence is a plus.

The simple rule is that you only use “on” when you can walk inside it.  If it is something that you cannot, then you are left with using “in” to make it sound right.

For example, a bus is something big and you definitely can walk inside it.  A car on the other hand is smaller.  Walking in it would be too awkward that you would be better off crawling on your knees or hopping on your butt to move around the seats.  You can say, “I’m inside a plane,” and that would not sound wrong.  Most of the time, however, we hear ourselves saying, “I’m on a Boeing 747 bound for New York.”

So the next time somebody asks you where you are because you are already an hour late, answer them, “I’m IN my car and I’m headed as fast as I can to where you are.”