Do only poor people take buses in the USA?

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27lw said:
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.
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I kind of doubt it. Outside of urban areas, most people who take the metro/bus to work do it because they don’t have access to a car. Bedbugs or not, they don’t really have a choice.
 
You can Google it yourself “bedbug resurgence”. Or “bedbug map”.
Sorry I don’t have the ability to summarize for all 50 states. 😊

CDC website has info as well.
 
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Bedbugs have been in “resurgence” for at least the past 15 years.

It hasn’t affected people’s public transportation usage because, as Roland said, most people using the public transport don’t have a good alternative and still need to get to work, to the grocery store, to their doctor appointment etc.
 
It depends. I would say in the USA that the people who ride a bus tend to be lower economic folks. But sometimes other people do take the bus because they don’t want to drive in the traffic or have problems finding parking where they are going.
 
Polak said:
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?
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This question stuns me. I live in Australia but have in my working life , had working and social trips to USA. Most transport within the city I was working in was by train or bus or foot. That is how everyone got around if possible. Regardless of social status.
 
Parking downtown in cities may not only be difficult to find but very expensive too.

In Honolulu, there are park and drives. People in the suburbs drive to a parking lot and board a bus which takes them from the suburbs to downtown Honolulu. The highways have special lanes for high occupancy vehicles so people get to where they’re going a bit faster since there is less traffic on it than the regular lanes.

Plus they save on parking.

Easier to take the bus in that case.

In smaller towns with less traffic it’s more convenient to drive.
 
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When I worked in Manhattan, I took the bus into the city every day.
It’s about a 50-minute ride from my house in North Jersey. But if I’d
driven in, I would have spent that much time getting through the traffic
and finding a place to park. My bus was packed with commuters.
I loved taking the 10-minute walk from the Port Authority bus terminal
to my job.

Nearly everyone in NYC takes the subway and Metropolitan Transit
Authority buses. Even if you’re filthy rich and have a private limo, you’re
still going to get stuck in NYC traffic.
 
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I had an aunt and uncle who lived their entire lives in NYC. Neither even had a drivers license much less a car. They never felt a need for one either! The very rare occasion of a bus or subway not going where they needed, they took a taxi…nowadays, they’d probably take an Uber.

Even owning a car in NYC is very expensive. Parking is a significant amount of money plus insurance. My aunt and uncle were fairly wealthy and still never considered owning a car.
 
Sunbreak said:
It depends. I would say in the USA that the people who ride a bus tend to be lower economic folks. But sometimes other people do take the bus because they don’t want to drive in the traffic or have problems finding parking where they are going.
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One of the greatest advantages I found to riding the bus was not having to look for a parking space. When I rode it to our mall, it dropped us off right in front of the main entrance. Didn’t even have to walk far.

Conversely, when driving, finding a parking space in a crowded strip mall could be almost impossible. And, of course, there was sometimes the aggravating situation of having spotted the one and only empty space, heading toward it, only to have someone in a smaller vehicle zip right in front of me and take it, quite deliberately, knowing full well that I wanted it, and daring me to do anything about it. Probably laughing under their breath on top of it.

And then there was always the inconsiderate low-life who would park in the handicapped stall when they weren’t handicapped.

Driving affords one a great deal of freedom, but it does have its drawbacks. Sometimes, it’s a welcome relief to be able to ride a bus.
 
I have a sneaking suspicion that over reliance on cars has a part to play in the growth of the obese population here in the US.

Public transportation at least involves some walking which is good exercise.

Combine that with fast food and the drive through and we have a perfect storm.

If you look at suburbs, most the newer ones do not have sidewalks. People would have to drive themselves to the gym in order to get exercise. After a day of sitting in traffic to go to and from work, sitting in traffic ferrying their kids to after school activities, sitting in more traffic to go the gym and get exercise adds another layer of hassle. Most people just opt out of exercise altogether.

The car industry has been very, very, successful in creating a society in its own image. In the US, people are pretty much forced to own a car. This has been a good business model for the car industry.
 
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I had a relative who lived his entire life from age 18 onward in either New York City or San Francisco. He bought his first car when he was almost 40…it was a sports car that he only took out occasionally for recreational drives.
 
I think the age for a drivers license is 18 in NY? Many kids these days that live in urban centers are in no hurry to get a drivers license.

My grandson just turned 15 and can’t wait to get his learners permit! Around my parts, it’s still an important right of passage. Of course, around here, the bus system is weak at best…many parts of town aren’t covered and a long walk to a bus stop in a Colorado winter isn’t practical! What service there is, is clean and on time with modern buses but it’s geared towards the poorer side of town to begin with.
 
About 20 years ago, I met a friend in Westminster. She said, “You won’t believe who was sitting next to me on the bus.” It was Betty Boothroyd, who at the time was still serving as speaker of the House of Commons.

I have a friend from Cleveland, Ohio, who now lives in London. In London, she travels by bus virtually every day. However, she tells me that she has never been on any mode of public transport in Cleveland, despite having lived there for most of her life. The reason given is that public transport is only for poor people (her definition of “poor” may not be the same as a normal person’s definition “poor”). She does use public transport in NYC. Needless to say, when flights from Cleveland to Toronto were grounded, she was horrified when I pointed out that she could get there by bus.
Sarcelle said:
If you look at suburbs, most the newer ones do not have sidewalks.
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One of the most baffling questions I’ve ever been asked by an American was whether it would be possible to walk from Covent Garden to Westminster Abbey. I explained that it was about a mile, so if they were able to walk one mile, they could walk it. This wasn’t the answer they were looking for. They knew that it was a mile, but they still weren’t convinced that it would be possible to walk. It turned out that what they actually wanted to know was whether the roads would have sidewalks. I forget where they were from, but it was a city in the US that had not been designed to be navigable on foot.
 
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And that’s one reason I find older parts of suburbs charming. The sidewalks, often cracked, have real character. There are huge trees that drop their leaves onto the sidewalks, and it’s always fun to walk along and look at people’s gardens. Some folks have nothing in their yards but overgrown grass, while others have small but absolutely stunning flowerbeds.

Sometimes, someone’s dog would bark as we passed, or I would see someone’s cat laying on their stoop – always something interesting to see in older suburbs.

The Pacific and inland northwest have lots of older suburbs like this.
 
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EmilyAlexandra said:
it was a city in the US that had not been designed to be navigable on foot.
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Pretty much everything in the US that came after WWll was designed for automobiles. That’s nearly everything but downtown or very close to it in every city. It sucks quite frankly. And it’s still ongoing. There’s been a little pushback in some places but the majority of development is just carrying on as if the suburban hellscape design has zero drawbacks.

If you want to get a rise out of US urban activists just mention the name Robert Moses. You’ll hear how he destroyed nearly every city in the US with a bulldozer attitude of getting the Interstate system done in true “get er done” fashion. Combine that with LBJ’s “war on poverty” which featured the “now we know that was a dumb idea” policy called “Urban Renewal”, and many US cities are still recovering from their effects via an endless run of police shootings and riots in rust belt cities.

Most of the cities being talked about here as being “no go on the bus” are rust belt cities. Thanks Robert Moses. Wealthy or (other reasons) cities like DC, NYC don’t have these problems as much for various reasons including necessity (it’s not as practical to drive in DC or NYC).

Chinatown is awesome!
 
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Sarcelle said:
Public transportation at least involves some walking which is good exercise.
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I was with some American friends in Sydney. We were headed to the Opera House for a night off, we walked from their hotels, their walking pace was absolutely cracking, olympic walkers right there!
 
EmilyAlexandra said:
I forget where they were from, but it was a city in the US that had not been designed to be navigable on foot.
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It was deliberately designed for car traffic not pedestrians.

As I said before, the car industry is very powerful. Americans are herded into car ownership by the automobile industry.
 
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@Polak: I wouldn’t take a bus for a long trip. It’s cramped and it takes way too long.

When I don’t want to drive, I take the train. The Northeast corridor has excellent train
service along the East Coast. You can go from Maine to Miami without changing trains.

I’ve taken the Acela from New York City
to Boston and it’s an absolute breeze.

Twice, I’ve taken round trips between New York Penn Station and Orlando. Because
it takes more than 20 hours, I get a sleeping berth. I’d do it again. In a heartbeat.
 
Yes that is true

The resulting easy access to food and the not so easy access to exercise leads to obesity.

With obesity comes a whole host of industries that will profit from it. The diet and fitness industry, big pharma, health insurance companies which charge an arm and a leg for substandard care.
 
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