Do only poor people take buses in the USA?

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Polak

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Obviously a question to folks living in the USA.

Taking the bus in Europe might well be something rich people very rarely do, but I wouldn’t say it’s considered a sign of being poor here. Sometimes a bus can be convenient, and a lot of people, particularly when living in a city, might hop on and off buses to get to various parts of the city (London is a good example).

I do get the impression however, from what I’ve heard, that in the USA it is a sign that you are poor. I’ve also heard it said that very few white people take the bus in the States (because generally whites are seen as more well off than blacks, hispanics etc. although of course there are poor white people too).

Is this the case? Do people try to pretty much avoid buses whenever possible in the US, and is it only poorer people who take them? Is it the same with taking a coach to another state (a long journey) or do more people, even if they are not poor, do that?
 
It depends on which bus and where it is going. There are some special bus routes that focus on tourists, students etc. and those riders might not all be poor. However, in general nowadays most people who ride regular buses in USA tend to be at the lower end of the economic spectrum.

In general, public transportation in USA is not regarded the same way as in Europe. It’s much easier to get around in Europe without a car. In USA, unless you live in certain urban areas known for having good, reliable public transportation such as NYC or DC, you’re probably going to need a car. In most places, the public transportation is very limited and often somewhat unreliable, and there’s also a higher chance of encountering passengers who are unruly, disruptive, high, violent etc.
 
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Polak said:
Is this the case? Do people try to pretty much avoid buses whenever possible in the US, and is it only poorer people who take them? Is it the same with taking a coach to another state (a long journey) or do more people, even if they are not poor, do that?
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There are a few cities with well developed bus systems. I used to take the bus in dc sometimes because it was honestly more convenient than the subway.

But, in general, people in the US tend to rely more on cars, which means a lot of cities neglect their public transportation options. When it’s just not a priority for the city, it tends to be unpleasant and unreliable, which means it’s often the last resort for people who are struggling.
 
Depends on where you live.

In Hawaii, a lot of people take the bus, rich or poor.

I prefer taking public transportation because I despise driving.
 
Speaking as someone who lives close to San Francisco, CA, many people of all financial spectrums take the bus and other public transit, particularly for their daily commute to work. It’s just easier than driving and trying to find parking in some areas of the city.
 
In my experience, it’s usually people and senior citizens unless you live in an urban area where having a car is more trouble than it’s worth.
 
There was a brief period when I was without a car, so I rode our local transit buses to the mall and other places, including home. When I got another car, i drove it, instead of riding the bus. But the buses were handy when I needed them.

I am white, and I saw plenty of other white people on our local transit buses. It’s a matter of convenience, not necessarily poverty.

And this reminds me of a memorable experience when I was riding on a particular bus:

The newer buses had a yellow strip alongside every window, and a sign above every window that said, “Press yellow tape for next stop.”

I was sitting across from one of those windows when I noticed the sign above it. Somebody had obliterated the word, “Press”, the “ow” from “yellow”, and the “t” from “tape”, so that the resulting sign read: “Yell ape for next stop.”

I wondered at the time if anyone else had noticed it.
 
It’s been mentioned already that there are a few exceptions in a few cities. In most cities I imagine city buses are similar. They are often used by people who don’t have a car, which in the US, usually means that they cannot afford one or do not have a driver’s license. And in the US, if you don’t have a car or driver’s license, but you still need to get around town a lot, it usually means you’ve made some bad life choices or your mentally ill. But for the most part city buses are primarily used by those who see it as their best option.
 
I’d imagine it depends on how convenient the public transit system is in any given city.

If public transit options are bad, the wealthy might choose cars.

If public transit options are good, the wealthy (or at least most people, not just ‘the poor’) might choose public transit.

I’m North American and I’ll just chime in that where I live, public transit is good, and you see working professionals using transit all the time (lawyers in suits, etc). It’s certainly not for “only poor people”. And certainly there’s no racial disparity that I’ve noticed, most faces on the buses are white in a way that seems proportional to overall domestic population.

I’d also mention that rural small towns have worse public transit for presumably obvious reasons, so you’re more likely to see economic options affecting who chooses to use the rare, rambling buses versus drive directly somewhere on your own schedule in a car. Those who can, will choose a car. Those who don’t choose a car probably can’t.
 
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MNathaniel said:
I’d also mention that rural small towns have worse public transit for presumably obvious reasons, so you’re more likely to see economic options affecting who chooses to use the rare, rambling buses versus drive directly somewhere on your own schedule in a car. Those who can, will choose a car. Those who don’t choose a car probably can’t .
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I live in a mid-sized town so I drive instead of taking the bus.

When I lived in bigger cities, I took public transportation.
 
I would note that in many US cities there is a considerable difference between forms of public transit.

Many professional commuters will ride subways or commuter trains much more than they ride the bus.

I can remember a whole discussion in the DC Citypaper of how a lot of the young professional city residents rode the Metro all the time, but wouldn’t ride the city bus unless it was one of the specialty buses like the Circulator bus. As someone who has ridden a lot of buses (I grew up carless and broke), I can vouch for the bus schedules often being hard to follow or changing in some unexpected way, the service often being unreliable (buses are late, don’t show up at all, or are so full they won’t take on passengers) , the buses often being dirty inside, and bus stops often being uncomfortable, dirty and a magnet for criminals looking for targets.

Cities usually put more effort into keeping up the subways and commuter trains than they do the buses - although there are exceptions, because part of the reason I rode the buses so much as a teen and college student was that you were more likely to get attacked or killed riding the train/subway in that particular city. The bus was safer and the bus stops were located in busier and less scary areas.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
I can remember a whole discussion in the DC Citypaper of how a lot of the young professional city residents rode the Metro all the time, but wouldn’t ride the city bus unless it was one of the specialty buses like the Circulator bus. As someone who has ridden a lot of buses (I grew up carless and broke), I can vouch for the bus schedules often being hard to follow or changing in some unexpected way, the service often being unreliable (buses are late, don’t show up at all, or are so full they won’t take on passengers) , the buses often being dirty inside, and bus stops often being uncomfortable, dirty and a magnet for criminals looking for targets.
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I don’t know about you, but I have a much higher opinion of the DC bus system than the Metro. The Metro is often dirty, full of weirdos, and/or catching fire. At least on the bus I can see the sky.
 
No. When I lived in major cities I took public transit. Now that I’m in the suburbs, I drive. It depends on where you live and what the public transit systems are like.
 
The Metro was much better when it was newer (Back in the 80s and 90s). They put a lot of money into making it nice in order to get suburbanites to even ride on it. In those days it was like a European transit system, like the London Tube. It also was a lot smaller then, so probably easier to keep up.

It has had problems in the last decade due to lack of budgeting for maintenance and the usual incompetence of DC public officials, which is always legendary. I took a job 3 states away about the same time the Metro started catching fire on a regular basis. I was glad I didn’t have to deal with it any more.

But even before that I was taking the DC Circulator a lot. The Circulator was specially designed to make it easy for tourists and everyone else to get to Georgetown, because Georgetown would never permit a Metro. (The Kevin Costner “No Way Out” film has a hilarious scene of him jumping on the Metro at the “Georgetown” stop which caused the entire audience when it premiered in the BWI Corridor to burst out laughing - on top of that they used the Baltimore Metro for filming which was equally funny, since the Baltimore Metro never took off and I only rode it about twice because you were kind of taking your life in your hands going on it. )
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
ut even before that I was taking the DC Circulator a lot. The Circulator was specially designed to make it easy for tourists and everyone else to get to Georgetown, because Georgetown would never permit a Metro.
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Georgetown has really gotten sleepy. I don’t know how often you get back here, but it’s really changed. When I first moved to DC in 2008 or so, Georgetown still had pretty raucous nightlife. Lots of bars and music venues catering to the undergrads.

The people who live in Georgetown have really chased all that stuff away. There’s still dining and shopping and stuff, but they’ve made it very clear they want to stay quiet.
 
Yeah, I rarely go any more. Had enough of it during the many years I worked there and went to school there. My husband and I liked Georgetown in the 80s and 90s but most of the places I liked to go (The Bayou for example) closed a very long time ago.
 
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Since there’s a resurgence of bedbugs in the US, I think people also are going to avoid public transportation for that reason alone. Not to mention covid.
 
MNathaniel said:
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27lw:
Since there’s a resurgence of bedbugs in the US,
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There’s a resurgence of bedbugs… across the entire US?
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Oh my. You didn’t know?

https://www.bedbugcentral.com/bedbugs101/history-resurgence


 
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I prefer not to click external links to unknown sites; could you summarize or quote the findings about how this applies to all 50 USA states?

The blurb preview just says ‘New Jersey’.

(Apologies for skepticism, I just always find it strange when anyone tries to ask or answer any question on behalf of the entire ‘US’. That’s a big and diverse country, from Texas to DC to Oregon to Utah, etc… rural, city, religious, non-religious, rich, poor, high travel, low travel… unless a question is specifically about constitution or other national law, I always struggle to understand how most questions can even be asked, much less any one-size-fits-all answer offered.)
 
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