Are You Good With Public Transit?

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Do you live in Toronto? I noticed you're in Canada, and I think I've heard Toronto has a pretty good subway system. Lucky you.

Many Asian cities have awesome subway systems - they are very new, clean, safe, and people don't mess with you - the people are also clean and safe and just mind their own business, mostly reading or listening to music w/ headphones. That's really nice.

But here in the US, public transportation is largely non-existent, or else really bad (sporadic service, etc.) and it's generally only used by the really poor (so rather uncomfortable sometimes, with smelly people, loud people, dangerous looking people, etc., and there is often vandalism, graffiti, etc. which makes you feel unsafe) In Asia, and I think Europe too (and Canada?) everyone uses the subway, and almost everyone in those countries is middle class, so it's comfortable.

Driving is statistically very dangerous - it's the most dangerous thing most people do (other than eat junky food full of sugar, salt and fat).

Driving is also very stressful - if you do it everyday you may not notice, but if you don't do it for a while and then go back to it, you'll be shocked at how stressful it is. Plus it's wasteful/expensive (compare total costs of owning and operating a car for a month w/ a good monthly public transportation pass - big difference!). Driving also pollutes the air, which causes cancer and god knows what else, and robs us of a good chance to get a little exercise (walking or biking to and from stations, going up and down stairs, standing on the train, etc.).

Plus there's the constant stress of maintaining just the right speed - not too fast so you don't get a ticket, but not too slow so you piss off everyone behind you, etc. (since NOBODY follows the speed limit). Plus I hate sitting at stop lights - I always feel like some idiot in the car next to me is staring at me, even though in most cases it's not true.

Over time, I have come to value public transit more and more. It is a cheap and reliable way to get around the city I live in.

I used to be terrible on the bus, mostly because I never wanted to have to get up to press the bell to stop the thing. I used to sit there almost praying someone would be getting off at the same stop so I didn't have to push the button but now, as long as I know the route and I sit next to a button to press I'm ok. I also do the dark glasses and headphones thing.

I don't like to use any public transport other than locally, I also drive and cycle but probably adhere too much to the highway code which other road users appear to find annoying. I walk a lot.

No, Vancouver, we have a pretty good one compared to some cities.

No.

Public transport is up there with night clubs [and similar venues] in my tier of, places you'll never see me.

One issue with public transportation in my area is that it doesn't go everywhere you would need to, especially the rail system. Now, when I was in college, I took the bus a lot because at the time I didn't have a driver's license, and even if I did, the student bus pass was cheaper than a parking pass was. The bad thing was when the middle and high schools got out because the bus got extremely crowded, and at times, those kids wouldn't let people get off at their stops. Then, you have the strange people such as the grumpy old woman who got on someone's case for holding an empty commuter coffee cup on the bus, yelling, "NO DRINKS ON THE BUS" until she got off.

Now that I drive, I don't take public transportation unless I'm going someplace where parking is difficult to find or really expensive. After all, I can be more flexible when it comes to work, as some buses don't run on weekends, and I've also worked where I had to be there before they started running, or gotten off after they stopped for the day.

I've had no major problems with public transit (though I did get my ticket eaten by one of the gates in the Paris Metro one time and I had to find someone who could speak English to help me get it back).

Gainesville has a decent bus system (named RTS, and they actually has Nova RTS buses in the otherwise mostly Gillig fleet), but during peak hours, people (mostly UF students) pile into them like sardines. I've had no problems with the crowds, but now I ride a bike because it's faster, easier, healthier, and more flexible.

I can't ride a bike that well. I'm scared of it,

I agree with ThomasL...I've lived in Toronto for a few years and people don't give the subway enough credit. Sure, it's a little old and is nowhere near as high tech as the high speed trains in Japan, but at least we have a subway system!

As for me, I love the convenience of public transit: can just hop on the bus or subway and it just takes you where you need to go: all you need to do is sit back and read or listen to music until your stop comes. I grew up in a rural community though, and when I moved to the city for the first time, I found it very tricky to use at first. There were so many routes, so many roads, and it took me a year until I was fully comfortable using it. Now, I often find myself helping people out on the buses, subways and streetcars as I know the general directions of where everything goes. I also ride my bike to school and for going short distances...in the smaller city where I live now I've been using it more often as the public transit there sucks.

Also, I am terrified of driving: I still have my learner's license at 22 and enjoy driving with my dad, but I have huge problems with reaction time and multitasking, and driving in the city amps up my anxiety tenfold as there are just too many things that I have to pay attention to.

you mean to tell me there were NO unwashed WHITE people?

it has been my experience that on public transport the unwashed come in all colors. btw i sure wish there was public transit out where i live.

I always hated public transit, I much prefer the comfort of my car. It was annoying when I had to take the bus to college since the bus takes FOREVER to get from point A to point B!! !! !! !! !!

There weren't that many white people and most of them were students, so the white people usually didn't smell unless they were homeless. When there were homeless of any race on the bus I was tempted to punch out the window for fresh air.

I'm glad there's no subway where I live. People would have to travel armed and in pairs to go on it or anywhere near the terminal. Nobody would be able to finance proper security. Security on the bus system is already bad and that is in plain sight.

Some people say that using public transit is less stressful than driving. I find it more stressful. I hate worrying about not having a seat and I get claustrophobic with so many people around. I find it more relaxing to be in my car, even when I'm sitting in traffic.

I don't travel well on buses or trains especially if crowded. Coaches are also not good. Long journeys can be really stressful. As for flying, I know that I've been on planes but not since I was very young, I would be petrified to go on a plane nowadays.

I hate public transport. It is noisy, smelly, crowded and the buses/traisn never turn up on time. (although trains are more spot on than buses). If you put your bag on the seat next to you people get grumpy. If you take the bag off and someone sits next to you, they decide it would be perfectly socially acceptable to play rap music at top volume through their Poundland headphones or talk on their mobile phones.

Yesterday there was a woman sitting in front of me and my carer (I can't usually cope with buses on my own) and she whipped a mobile out and was practically yelling down the ruddy thing. She was arranging to meet up with her daughter Louise at 10:10 on the following Wednesday (you couldn't NOT eavesdrop!) but she just kept repeating herself and going over the same part of the conversation again. Then she started going on about how her friends kids have both come down with sickness and diarhoea... Thanks. I really needed to know that... At this point my Tourettes started to play up and I started barking like a dog and the woman had the cheek to turn round and comment that I sounded like a dog! A well timed, 'f*** you' shot out (that's one of my common tics... ) and she carried on talking until eventually she couldn't hear over my yelps! By this point she had been on the phone for over 15 minutes so no, I didn't feel bad!

so hilarious im generally well over puplic transport but i prefer my own car because i dont want to wait busses