lavawalker1
Full Member
Posts: 454
Jul 9, 2021 21:41:57 GMT
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Post by lavawalker1 on Aug 1, 2023 20:44:22 GMT
There’s none where I live.
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maryannscraps
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,736
Aug 28, 2017 12:51:28 GMT
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Post by maryannscraps on Aug 1, 2023 20:55:14 GMT
My small town does not have any public transportation, other than the state service for the disabled. But I love taking the train. I prefer to take the commuter train into Boston (I do have to drive to the station) because then I don’t have to deal with the traffic or parking. It’s so easy. In Atlanta, I love taking Marta. I can get on a train right next to baggage claim and be at my daughter’s house in 25 minutes. Ha, take that Atlanta traffic. I also love taking Amtrak trains — easiest way for me into NYC. I can sit back and read and watch the world go by and get dropped off right at Penn Station.
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teddyw
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,868
Jun 29, 2014 1:56:04 GMT
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Post by teddyw on Aug 1, 2023 21:02:41 GMT
We have bus service only and not always in the most needed areas. The buses are gross though. The suburbs do offer free mini buses to residents for rides.
Lately Uber has been so expensive here. Not sure why. The government officials don’t seem the least bit interested in a rail service.
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Post by refugeepea on Aug 1, 2023 21:32:01 GMT
No, there is not public transport where I live.
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garcia5050
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,734
Location: So. Calif.
Jun 25, 2014 23:22:29 GMT
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Post by garcia5050 on Aug 1, 2023 21:56:00 GMT
I take the light raíl/above-ground subway here in Los Ángeles. It’s really hard to change the perception of LA’s car culture. I live 3 minutes from the train station and get to work in about 50 minutes to an hour. Same for the ride home. If I drove, I would get to work in 40 minutes but take at least 90 minutes for the ride home. I was talking to a co worker who was saying how the rails were too far from her home, and then we keep talking and it turns out that she lives a block away from me (meaning, she is also 3 minutes from the station). Then the real story is ‘I have young kids and I need to be able to get to them in a moments notice’ - yeah, while your still an hour away from them? Post pandemic, the trains are super gross, they smell very much like urine and weed. Recent reports say that there are 6,000+ homeless that live on the trains. It’s pretty bad. There used to be a dedicated sheriffs unit to monitor the trains, but that contract ended like 6 years ago. It was already going downhill, but with pandemic, the problems just grew exponentially. They really need to do something about that. There used to be a state law that mandated the number of parking spaces allotted per new build/residence. New homes had to have two dedicated parking spots. No more. Local/city leaders are approving new builds with only one parking spot per residence (to squeeze in as many houses as they can). They justify it by saying, hey there is a local bus stop on the corner. Use it. A single space would definitely cause me not to buy that home. And I am the sort of person that uses public transport. My son’s friend lives in one of these new builds and he said there are literal fist fights for parking spots. I do want to add that I enjoy driving in my own car. I miss singing at the top of my lungs during my drive. But the drive home is such a long bummer, that I’d rather spend that time reading books, listening to podcasts, playing phone games, etc.
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Post by bossymom on Aug 1, 2023 21:56:26 GMT
19 minute car commute. 48 minute bus commute.
Why would I?
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Jun 2, 2024 14:07:00 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2023 22:28:53 GMT
I haven't had a need to take public transport since college.
I don't consider taxis or planes to be public transport because you do have to pay far more than you would for a city bus.
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Post by littlemama on Aug 1, 2023 22:33:25 GMT
My state is lacking in public transportation- no subway or commuter trains, buses are really only used by people who can't afford a car(that is a generalization, but a fairly accurate one). We love our cars here. 🤷🏼♀️
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Post by epeanymous on Aug 1, 2023 22:45:58 GMT
Yes. There is a bus that runs from a block from my house to a block from work. I also take the bus to big public events so I don't have to park. If waiting for and changing busses didn't involve standing outside, I'd bus more often. I didn't own a car in Boston, NY, or SF. Love transit, hate driving.
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Post by canadianlinda on Aug 1, 2023 22:51:26 GMT
No transportation where I live. ( There are school buses, but that’s it)
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Post by KiwiJo on Aug 1, 2023 22:51:45 GMT
Urban city.
Due to our geography, we have limited train service and no underground/tube at all. Auckland is long and narrow, spanning from east coast of the country to the West Coast, only 5 miles across at the narrowest point, and it is situated on a volcanic field of more than 50 volcanoes. They make digging tunnels pretty hard!
We do have a fairly good bus service though….. Park And Ride stations at major points - huge car parks where people can drive from their home, park their cars and take busses into the central city area. This cuts down the amount of traffic in the central city. The busses have their own roadway running alongside the freeway so they can g9 way faster than cars caught up in traffic. There’s also ordinary suburban busses.
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schizo319
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,030
Jun 28, 2014 0:26:58 GMT
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Post by schizo319 on Aug 1, 2023 22:58:12 GMT
I voted no because there is no public transportation where I live. When I visit other cities I do use public transit if it's available and easy to learn/use.
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Post by Zee on Aug 1, 2023 23:03:01 GMT
I live in a car city. I just do. If you want to live here, it’s expected that you have a car. If you don’t have a car, choose a more walkable city or a city with buses. I get that that is a privileged and entitled statement. I get that it’s not fair. I get that it’s classist and elitist and whatever else. BUT I also get that it is what keeps my suburb the way it is compared to the way the suburbs with bus service are. You're such a giant prick I'm surprised you haven't burst your own bubble yet. Yet, never disappoints. It's life as viewed by the most insular pea here, and it's just fascinating.
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Post by myshelly on Aug 1, 2023 23:09:00 GMT
I live in a car city. I just do. If you want to live here, it’s expected that you have a car. If you don’t have a car, choose a more walkable city or a city with buses. I get that that is a privileged and entitled statement. I get that it’s not fair. I get that it’s classist and elitist and whatever else. BUT I also get that it is what keeps my suburb the way it is compared to the way the suburbs with bus service are. You're such a giant prick I'm surprised you haven't burst your own bubble yet. You act like I’m the only person with this opinion. I provided articles about Americans at large feeling the same way I do. I acknowledged that views about public transportation are highly regional. I acknowledged that views about public transportation in Europe are very different than here. How does any of that make me a prick? How does it mean I’m in a bubble? A bubble shared by 91% of Texans, apparently. In my city, my state, my country in general buses are stigmatized and associated with poor people. It is not me being in a bubble, it is just the actual association. Does it have classist, elitist, possibly racist undertones and implications. Sure. I acknowledge my privilege. I just think it’s funny y’all would rather call me names than engage with the fact that my opinion is actually a popular opinion.
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Post by Zee on Aug 1, 2023 23:17:09 GMT
But I will agree that buses are largely unused in anything that's not a major city, even if they are available.
No one wants to make 18 stops and switch buses 3 times to get to work. If it was hop on hop off, that would be different.
There is no bus or train option for me but even if there was you wouldn't catch me doing that late at night. Buses and trains at night when the work commuters are gone are full of the sketchiest people, at least in the US.
When I lived in Chicago many years ago as a student I took the bus and train everywhere, didn't have a car. It was always an experience after hours. Hell sometimes even in the middle of the day.
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Post by ntsf on Aug 1, 2023 23:38:34 GMT
I grew up in seattle.. my dad took the bus to work downtown every day.. even though he had free parking.. he loved riding the bus.. cause he could relax and read a book.
so I took the bus to school, bus to downtown.. most everywhere. we did drive sometimes to church and grocery store.. though we could walk to a market. we drove to the mountains most weekends.
since I live right in san francisco, I know many who do not have cars and just use public transport with occasional rental cars.. or they use bikes.. and transport the kids to school on the back. the train is one block from my house, the bus system is extensive. I've taken bart to the airport, to downtown,.. I live out where there is street parking and drive to the store and errands.. but public transport is a choice here. my child rides the bus and trains all over as she doesn't drive and never will be able to.
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Post by AussieMeg on Aug 1, 2023 23:45:03 GMT
I take a train into the city once a week for work. If I'm in the city, I will catch a tram to get around, if it's too far to walk. I sometimes catch a train to the football, if the carpark is closed.
I have just come back from Singapore, and OMG, their train system is AMAZING!! You can get anywhere on their trains, which are spotlessly clean and always on time. One train line is a big loop, then there are a heap of other lines crossing over that, so you can easily get anywhere on just one or two trains. And they have tons of buses too. I wish we could start again here, and build something like what Singapore has.
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scrappinwithoutpeas
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,928
Location: Northern Virginia
Aug 7, 2014 22:09:44 GMT
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Post by scrappinwithoutpeas on Aug 1, 2023 23:49:17 GMT
I chose "train" although it's actually the subway, not an above-ground train like the kind that goes between cities. Yes, I take it when I go into DC because you couldn't pay me enough to drive into that city. Otherwise here in Northern Virginia I drive to wherever I need to go. We have good public bus routes but I've never needed to take one. Same for me. I used to commute into DC daily for work in the before-times (pre-COVID) but now I WFH full time and only take the metro (subway) for Nats games, Caps games, museums, etc. Have never once used bus transport anywhere in Northern VA. When I travel to other cities (both US and abroad), I take public transport all over the place when it's available.
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Post by lisae on Aug 1, 2023 23:53:21 GMT
We are in a rural area. The only public transportation is a bus service that you can schedule a day in advance to pick you up from your house. Some people use it for doctor appointments and probably other errands if they can't drive. It stops at Walmart and a few other places but very limited service.
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lizacreates
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,856
Aug 29, 2015 2:39:19 GMT
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Post by lizacreates on Aug 2, 2023 0:20:53 GMT
We have no public transportation where I live, but I enjoy taking advantage of it on travels. Rubbing shoulders with a 'poor' on a subway is generally much more enriching to my life than waving sterilely at an 'elitist' in her air-conditioned bubble. ROFL! Like I said on another thread, no one throws shade like Southerners. To answer the thread’s question, this riffraff has taken and still takes public transport countless times. I took the city bus to school as a kid. As a teen, my friends and I always took public transport everywhere we went. We loved it because it was independence for us. As an adult I’ve taken the train many times going to the downtown area. As a retired person, I take the train and/or city bus to go to museums, the lake, zoo, restaurants and shops, etc. There are times when it’s far easier for me to take public transport than drive and fight the dense traffic. The mere sight and smells of other people don’t bother me in the slightest. I’d much prefer the smell of an honest day’s labor than the fetid odor of insufferable haughtiness. Every day and twice on Sunday.
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Post by belgravia on Aug 2, 2023 0:28:32 GMT
Our public transit is not safe. In the 18 years I’ve lived here, I’ve never used it. For a smallish city of one million people, it seems we have a disproportionate amount of violence and drug use affecting our transit systems. You could not pay me to take a bus or a train in my city. And I’m thankful that my suburb has no bus service.
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Post by supersoda on Aug 2, 2023 1:32:18 GMT
You're such a giant prick I'm surprised you haven't burst your own bubble yet. You act like I’m the only person with this opinion. I provided articles about Americans at large feeling the same way I do. I acknowledged that views about public transportation are highly regional. I acknowledged that views about public transportation in Europe are very different than here. How does any of that make me a prick? How does it mean I’m in a bubble? A bubble shared by 91% of Texans, apparently. In my city, my state, my country in general buses are stigmatized and associated with poor people. It is not me being in a bubble, it is just the actual association. Does it have classist, elitist, possibly racist undertones and implications. Sure. I acknowledge my privilege. I just think it’s funny y’all would rather call me names than engage with the fact that my opinion is actually a popular opinion. It is not a bubble shared by 91% of Texans. Maybe 91% within the echo-chamber of your elite white suburb, which is being controlled by PACs trying to ensure no one breaks free of that echo chamber. And those PACS are controlled by oil money that wants to ensure car culture doesn't go anywhere. And who cares if public transportation is associated with poor people? Why should anyone care that much about what other people think. This is my biggest complaint about Texas--there is so much pressure in the 'burbs to show off what you have. Guess what? There are plenty of not poor people who choose public transportation for convenience, the environment, or because they don't give a flying frick about showing off how much money they have and will make the more economical choice. And why should we be allowing being poor or using public transportation to be stigmatized? That's just gross. I've been poor and I've been not poor. I've taken the city bus in a West Texas town where it was absolutely stigmatized. It was tough as a kid, but I didn't have much choice. I've taken the DART from my law school to my internships and bar study course in downtown Dallas. By that point I was mature enough not to give a fig what anyone what anyone thought despite being at a rich kid school. I don't take public transportation at home regularly now because it is so inconvenient. I absolutely would if Dallas would build a more robust public transportation system. I have taken public transportation all over the U.S. and abroad. I'm not afraid of poor people. I'm not afraid of people of color. I'm not afraid of stigma. I am afraid of classist, elitist white people and their groupthink. I am afraid of Stepford Wife communities. I am afraid for the very real consequences that car culture has on the environment.
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Post by freecharlie on Aug 2, 2023 2:09:13 GMT
I live in a rural area without public transport.
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ellen
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,516
Jun 30, 2014 12:52:45 GMT
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Post by ellen on Aug 2, 2023 2:21:40 GMT
I live in a rural area with no public transportation. When my daughter was stationed at Walter Reed we used the DC Metro to get us everywhere. It was so awesome to get on the Metro at the airport and then get to the stop closest to where she lived. It took us close to every place we wanted to visit. I remember enjoying the stories about TJ Oshie & Matt Niskanen from the Capitals taking the Metro to their Stanley Cup games because there was so many road closures around their arena. They were discussing their options and decided it would be the easiest.
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Post by scrappinmom3 on Aug 2, 2023 4:37:00 GMT
There isn’t any near me
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Post by Merge on Aug 2, 2023 5:20:10 GMT
You act like I’m the only person with this opinion. I provided articles about Americans at large feeling the same way I do. I acknowledged that views about public transportation are highly regional. I acknowledged that views about public transportation in Europe are very different than here. How does any of that make me a prick? How does it mean I’m in a bubble? A bubble shared by 91% of Texans, apparently. In my city, my state, my country in general buses are stigmatized and associated with poor people. It is not me being in a bubble, it is just the actual association. Does it have classist, elitist, possibly racist undertones and implications. Sure. I acknowledge my privilege. I just think it’s funny y’all would rather call me names than engage with the fact that my opinion is actually a popular opinion. It is not a bubble shared by 91% of Texans. Maybe 91% within the echo-chamber of your elite white suburb, which is being controlled by PACs trying to ensure no one breaks free of that echo chamber. And those PACS are controlled by oil money that wants to ensure car culture doesn't go anywhere. And who cares if public transportation is associated with poor people? Why should anyone care that much about what other people think. This is my biggest complaint about Texas--there is so much pressure in the 'burbs to show off what you have. Guess what? There are plenty of not poor people who choose public transportation for convenience, the environment, or because they don't give a flying frick about showing off how much money they have and will make the more economical choice. And why should we be allowing being poor or using public transportation to be stigmatized? That's just gross. I've been poor and I've been not poor. I've taken the city bus in a West Texas town where it was absolutely stigmatized. It was tough as a kid, but I didn't have much choice. I've taken the DART from my law school to my internships and bar study course in downtown Dallas. By that point I was mature enough not to give a fig what anyone what anyone thought despite being at a rich kid school. I don't take public transportation at home regularly now because it is so inconvenient. I absolutely would if Dallas would build a more robust public transportation system. I have taken public transportation all over the U.S. and abroad. I'm not afraid of poor people. I'm not afraid of people of color. I'm not afraid of stigma. I am afraid of classist, elitist white people and their groupthink. I am afraid of Stepford Wife communities. I am afraid for the very real consequences that car culture has on the environment. There are lots of people in Texas’ cities who would use public transportation if it was at all reasonable. The sights and smells of humanity do not bother me, but spending 90 minutes on what would be a 20 minute journey by car surely does. And it’s also a huge disservice to “the poor” who do rely on our buses for transportation. More time commuting, less time home with family and relaxing, cooking meals, exercising, etc. It’s a public health issue just like food deserts.
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Post by fruitysuet on Aug 2, 2023 14:40:39 GMT
I grew up (1960'-early 80's) using only public transport. I lived in a market town which had pretty good bus and train services. My parent's didn't drive. When I got married I passed my driving test and got a car. The towns/villages I've lived in since have had poor public transport getting worse as the years have gone on. I really don't like taking a bus anyway as I get motion sickness (another reason I prefer to drive and can only be a passenger in the front seat of a car).
But, anyway, I think that UK politicians/think tanks/people who live where there is good public transportation are just utterly delusional in believing that most people here can easily give up their cars and still get to work and the shops etc. I spent months looking for my new house that was somewhere remotely close to a bus stop that had a good bus network to boot. Most housing estates don't get any bus services, ditto villages. It was soul destroying to check for bus stops on Google maps only to then find that the bus was perhaps once a day, or just for school days. My two adult children who live with me don't drive, hence me wanting to be near a bus route.
I won't even start on the cost.
ETA also the majority of factories and offices that were town based around here have all moved out of town onto industrial estates, if not out of the UK altogether. Buses just don't go to those sort of places, and certainly not at times suitable for working shifts.
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Post by epeanymous on Aug 2, 2023 15:31:38 GMT
I take a train into the city once a week for work. If I'm in the city, I will catch a tram to get around, if it's too far to walk. I sometimes catch a train to the football, if the carpark is closed. I have just come back from Singapore, and OMG, their train system is AMAZING!! You can get anywhere on their trains, which are spotlessly clean and always on time. One train line is a big loop, then there are a heap of other lines crossing over that, so you can easily get anywhere on just one or two trains. And they have tons of buses too. I wish we could start again here, and build something like what Singapore has. Whenever I travel to big cities in non-US countries (I know you are also not in the US) I am frankly embarrassed by how the public transit in our country compares. It's so liberating to zoom around on clean, frequent subways and trains, and not to have to worry about traffic, parking, or any of the other irritations of this car-centric American life. Or to think about what it would be like to safely commute by bicycle as you can in many cities. We could do it!
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Post by crazy4scraps on Aug 2, 2023 15:44:48 GMT
I voted no because there really isn’t anything available where I currently live. In the past when I lived in one big city and worked in a neighboring big city, I rode the express bus to and from work downtown every day. It was full of other working people both ways and there was no stigma attached to it. In fact, most people who worked downtown took the bus in and out because monthly parking costs at area ramps were and are astronomical. About the only thing I can take a bus for now would be from a park and ride to our state fair, which my family has done many times.
When I was a kid living in the city, I took the bus everywhere that was too far or inaccessible by bike which was my other primary mode of transportation. Did I encounter some sketchy people at times? Definitely. Would I deny public transportation for other people who needed it or wanted it? Definitely not.
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Dalai Mama
Drama Llama
La Pea Boheme
Posts: 6,985
Jun 26, 2014 0:31:31 GMT
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Post by Dalai Mama on Aug 2, 2023 17:32:04 GMT
I live in Toronto, a 5-minute walk from a subway station so, yes - subway, streetcar, bus, commuter train. I have two adult sons, neither one of them has ever felt the need to learn how to drive (I didn't get my license until I was in my 30s).
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