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Giggly_Giraffe
Guest
How popular is public transportation (PT) in your town? What improvements would you think are beneficial to improving PT?
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Sunbreak
Guest
Bus transportation and light rail are fairly popular in this area. However, the access is not always well coordinated. It shouldn’t have to take 2-3 buses and and hour and a half to go 7 miles when it takes 20-30 mins to get to the same place by car. Also, there needs to be adequate places to wait so people aren’t standing around in the rain or snow.
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Christy_Beth
Guest
All we have here is the bus, and it has limited hours. No service in the evening or on Sunday. But it is cheaper than having a car. Just not as convenient.
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MJJean
Guest
We live adjacent to the Motor City (Detroit MI), so public transport is not a hit here. Part of it is we are all about the car culture and part of it is public transport consists only of buses. Smelly, broken, nasty, ugly, slow, badly organized buses.
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frizzgrig
Guest
Washington, DC area -
When I first moved here 11 years ago public transportation was relatively affordable. You could buy a MetroBus/Rail combination pass good for unlimited rides for the month for somewhere around $35 dollars (might have been a little more or less - it’s been 11 years).
Service was fairly dependable and mostly on time.
They have slowly raised the fares and cost to park in Metro parking facilities, while at the same time becoming more unreliable and inconvenient. Escalators that had little down time have been “rebuilt” and now constantly fail. Elevators are a similar joke. There seem to be more frequent train breakdowns.
They did extend weekend service hours from when I first moved here, and there seem to be fewer track and switch problems.
Bus service - the time table/schedule is more of a guideline, making taking the bus an adventure in patience much of the time.
Overall, they have raised the costs enough that people can justify on a cost basis alone driving into DC to work if there are 2 or more people in the car. Add in time savings (not guaranteed) and you can often justify driving in for 1 person.
When I first moved here 11 years ago public transportation was relatively affordable. You could buy a MetroBus/Rail combination pass good for unlimited rides for the month for somewhere around $35 dollars (might have been a little more or less - it’s been 11 years).
Service was fairly dependable and mostly on time.
They have slowly raised the fares and cost to park in Metro parking facilities, while at the same time becoming more unreliable and inconvenient. Escalators that had little down time have been “rebuilt” and now constantly fail. Elevators are a similar joke. There seem to be more frequent train breakdowns.
They did extend weekend service hours from when I first moved here, and there seem to be fewer track and switch problems.
Bus service - the time table/schedule is more of a guideline, making taking the bus an adventure in patience much of the time.
Overall, they have raised the costs enough that people can justify on a cost basis alone driving into DC to work if there are 2 or more people in the car. Add in time savings (not guaranteed) and you can often justify driving in for 1 person.
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marbleartist
Guest
Very popular here. The bus service is inexpensive and modern. There is a bus app for the phone which allows you to purchase a day, week or month pass which easily accesses when you enter a bus. No need for a paper or plastic card, unless you want one. The app also accurately tells you when the bus will arrive, and even maps out three routes for you to use! The buses have their own lane through downtown, so they move quickly- and they’re clean and nice. There is a rail service that goes to more outlying areas, but I’ve never used it. Now…my favorite new transit is called a B cycle. With an inexpensive card, one can “check out a bike” in one location and check it in at a different location throughout town. There are over 40 locations!! When combined with the bus, all of the popular places are easily accessible. I rarely use my car anymore, as parking can be difficult- and public transportation is so easy.
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maryjk
Guest
Public transportation? What public transportation??? 
I live in a city of 60,000 people.
I live in a city of 60,000 people.
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Christy_Beth
Guest
Our fares have gone up a few times since I started riding. At the beginning, a monthly pass was something like $18, with the “reduced fare” (for seniors and disabled) was $15. Now full fare is $50 and reduced fare is $35. And they’ve recently changed the bus passes so that you don’t have to buy one at the beginning of each month. Used to be, the pass was good for, say, February. Then on the first of March you had to buy the March pass. Now there’s a 31 day pass that you validate the first time you use it, and then scan in everytime you get on the bus. It makes it more practical for those who aren’t paid on the first of the month.
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CyrilSebastian
Guest
The taxicab company went out of business twenty years ago.
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andrewstx
Guest
Really, what public transport? In my part of the Tea Party south if you can’t afford to get there on your own you just stay home and away from Drs. Appointment and the grocery market. There is no public transportation.Public transportation? What public transportation???
I live in a city of 60,000 people.
Years ago there were busses in a nearby city. They shut it down in short order because it didn’t turn a profit…the only reason to exist in ultra right country.
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Cojuanco
Guest
Popular mostly among little old ladies and students here in OC. Bus service is relatively reliable, problem is that it stops running after 10 PM and is sporadic on weekends.
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Kal2012
Guest
Is a joke. Seriously.
Detroit is the motor city, after all.
The monorail downtown is nice, but hardly used.
The bus system consists of the suburban part/the Detroit part. Bus service is very random on DDot. Sometimes showing up, sometimes not all.
A lot of the suburbs have opted out of the bus system in recent years.
I’m in the suburbs and nobody takes public transportation unless there is no other option. It really is a last resort.
Detroit is the motor city, after all.
The monorail downtown is nice, but hardly used.
The bus system consists of the suburban part/the Detroit part. Bus service is very random on DDot. Sometimes showing up, sometimes not all.
A lot of the suburbs have opted out of the bus system in recent years.
I’m in the suburbs and nobody takes public transportation unless there is no other option. It really is a last resort.
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Ridgerunner
Guest
Let’s not be so hard on “ultra right country”. I live in a part of it and at least people will stop and let you by rather than run over you like they seem so anxious to do in Chicago, or curse you like many enjoy doing in NYC.
Taxi and a limited bus service here. That’s it. But nobody who needs one goes without a ride. People help each other, and of course there are church buses everywhere on Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday and free “mini-buses” that will take you wherever you want to go if you’re over 55 and don’t mind riding with others sometimes. Well, I’ll admit that sometimes joggers can get irritated when they’re offered rides multiple times while they’re getting their exercise. More of the failings in “Tea Party” country, I expect.
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ringil
Guest
Public transportation isn’t valued in much of the US. This goes way back.
As a legally blind man living in Buffalo- with less than adequate public transportation, I must depend on my wife most of the time. I cannot bring my kids to dr. appt. or really any of the essentials. My daughter’s Catholic school is right down the street so I walk her there and back which is nice.
I used to live in Boston which had superb public transit- despite the Bostonians still complaining about it! We didn’t even own a car then and it was a great lifestyle- and much healthier. One wonders if America’s obesity problem is partly attributable to our “car culture”.
The issue of funding for public transit often does boil down to a Right vs. Left issue. I find this quite unfortunate.
As a legally blind man living in Buffalo- with less than adequate public transportation, I must depend on my wife most of the time. I cannot bring my kids to dr. appt. or really any of the essentials. My daughter’s Catholic school is right down the street so I walk her there and back which is nice.
I used to live in Boston which had superb public transit- despite the Bostonians still complaining about it! We didn’t even own a car then and it was a great lifestyle- and much healthier. One wonders if America’s obesity problem is partly attributable to our “car culture”.
The issue of funding for public transit often does boil down to a Right vs. Left issue. I find this quite unfortunate.
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Petaro
Guest
I must admit that I have not been on a bus or train for over twenty years as I don’t like travelling with other people I don’t know. I only fly business class but this is often too crowded for me. First class at least has single cocoon seats but the added expense is prohibitive.
But the bus service in our city , Brisbane, is excellent having specific bus ways which speed up travel on these expressways remarkably. My son uses it and finds it clean, airconditioned and fast.The rail system is underutilized and expensive as there are fewer park and ride parking areas near a lot of the stations.
I call virgin air public transport as they seem to attract those sort of people that should go by bus between cities like greyhound in the States. We have those buses but the distances are so vast that you lose your sanity very early on. Our rail services between say Sydney and Perth takes three days and most intra city rail is often over twenty four hours. So flying is the only realistic way.
Over all not bad, but the prices go up every year well above inflation.
But the bus service in our city , Brisbane, is excellent having specific bus ways which speed up travel on these expressways remarkably. My son uses it and finds it clean, airconditioned and fast.The rail system is underutilized and expensive as there are fewer park and ride parking areas near a lot of the stations.
I call virgin air public transport as they seem to attract those sort of people that should go by bus between cities like greyhound in the States. We have those buses but the distances are so vast that you lose your sanity very early on. Our rail services between say Sydney and Perth takes three days and most intra city rail is often over twenty four hours. So flying is the only realistic way.
Over all not bad, but the prices go up every year well above inflation.
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Sarcelle
Guest
A crying shame.
However this is not a function of tea party or far right culture. It’s a function of the US car culture. Americans worship cars…Anything one can do is better if done in a car. Eating,.texting, ordering fast food.
I for.one cannot understand loving driving. It’s a necessary evil for me.
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maryjk
Guest
Part of the reason that there is a “car culture” is that many cities are quite spread out.
Take Boston, where the city is about 48 square miles (of land) with over 600,000 people.
The town where I live has just under 40 square miles of land and 60,000.
The city is just too spread out. So public transportation would either have to be cost prohibitive or paid for by the government. Our local government is quite liberal and does like to spend money. But our Constitution is written in such a way that they can’t spend that much money without a city wide vote. And the people would vote it down.
There is transportation for the local college; and for senior citizens and the disabled. Most churches have buses to pick up people for services. And we have miles of bike lanes, with plans to put more in.
But general, city wide, public transportation? No. We don’t have that.
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MSSheBear
Guest
Where I live (a major metropolitan area) we have a train, light rail, and buses. The train is very expensive but the bus and light rail cost only $2 per ride. The bus and the light rail are slow and it takes 2 hours to go 20 miles. A lot of us here ride bicycles. Everybody has to drive their children to school because the kids cannot walk about half a mile.:dts: Kids these days.
We have a lot of very affluent people who buy their teenagers SUVs and use those huge pick-up trucks as personal commute vehicles. Everybody drives very fast.
I have never heard of any churches having buses to pick people in my immediate area and you are pretty much on your own for our parish. People have offered me rides but only when I am exercising or was close to home.
We have a lot of very affluent people who buy their teenagers SUVs and use those huge pick-up trucks as personal commute vehicles. Everybody drives very fast.
I have never heard of any churches having buses to pick people in my immediate area and you are pretty much on your own for our parish. People have offered me rides but only when I am exercising or was close to home.
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Ridgerunner
Guest
In most places (downtown NYC being, they say, an exception) you have to have a car even if there is public transportation, because you will inevitably need or want to go places where there isn’t public transportation.
Long ago it wasn’t quite that way because housing was extremely dense in cities and there were a lot of street car lines. Besides, people didn’t much go anywhere anyway. Shopping was all in the neighborhood and nobody could afford to do much more than work, buy groceries and walk two blocks to church on Sunday.
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