UK Public Transportation

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I'm envious. I'm in a suburban area of Orlando. Without a car, you don't get around. It's not a walking town and the weather is unbearably hot most of the year. Public transportation is sketchy

Even in London, most public transportation really sucks after about 10 PM or so.

New York public transportation, in many sections, is better than London's after 10 PM.

London's Tube is more prompt than our subway, though. It doesn't run from about midnight to 5 AM, though; whereas NYC runs 24 hours.

It's true, though.....the UK's transportation system in smaller towns is much better than than in our smaller towns.

Krafty, thanks for covering my blind spot. Orlando is a large metro area yet we can't seem to get what you have up north.

Perhaps it's envy right now of cooler London weather and numerous places to stop for tea all without getting in a car.

UK looks idyllic even though they probably have their own problems.

Yes; although I find the experience of using public transport difficult sometimes, I am very glad that it is there. When I read about US towns and cities that seem to be designed around everyone driving, I do wonder how I would cope with it (I'd probably end up being picked up for jaywalking rather a lot!)

It is, sadly, declining here. Services are nothing like as good or affordable as a few decades ago, particularly for people living in more rural areas. It is very variable though; in the big cities like London and Manchester, bus, subway and tram services are generally well integrated, whereas where I am, it is very complicated to use when the services are all provided by different companies all with different ticketing systems.

My biggest gripe is that services here stop unreasonably early in the evenings and are very limited on weekends compared to how they used to be; for example, they're no use if you want to spend an evening out in town to go to the cinema etc. and can't afford cabs to get home afterwards. They seem to be viewed as just a way to commute for people in low-waged jobs without much consideration for people who need to use them for other reasons.

UK public transport is very poor these days outside of London. Some parts of the rail network have been in a chaotic state for the past year or so. Many bus services are infrequent and very expensive. Even in London, a zone 1-4 travel card on the Underground cost around £4 at the start of the Millennium, and is now almost £13.

I haven't been on a bus for about ten years but it was a pretty awful experience when I had to use them. There would be people blasting music off their phones and smoking weed sitting at the back.

Do you guys have Uber?

Yes, but it's just had its licence to operate in London revoked by the Mayor. It's currently appealing against the decision:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... icence-ban

Yes, we have Uber here, though I've never used it and don't know anyone who has. It has been very controversial with taxi and private hire drivers over here, and some reports of assaults of passengers etc. There's a very strict divide here between taxis (can hail them on the street) and private hire cabs (must be pre-arranged) - both must have specially licensed drivers. I don't know if the USA is the same, but Uber seems to be in a bit of a grey area of cab licensing and employment law, so maybe that makes it less common here. Where I live, a regular private hire cab can be cheaper than the bus if there's a few people sharing, so that also makes Uber less appealing, I think.

Public transport in germany may often be great, and there also is a decent extensive railway system. But if you are at the countryside, even in a city with 100k people, bus transport is present about once every half hour, in half of the city, and sometimes just doesn't come. the trains to nearby cities would also be pretty rare and unreliable.

At least my experience

Public transportation on Long Island is quite inferior to New York City. There is the Long Island Railroad which mainly serves commuters to "the city" and buses. Public transportation is best going east to the west and taking you into "the city", it stinks going north to south and many locations do not have a bus stop within a mile or two. Many trips that are a 15-minute drive involve 2+ hours taking two or three buses. Often the bus stops have no shelters.

The maintenance is terrible and there are often delays and cancelations. The only reason we have a bus system is that the business needs a way to get their minimum wage workers to the office. It is funded at a bare minimum. If they had a vote my guess is the voters would vote by a landslide to scrap the bus system.

NYC and Long Island also have weather negatives. Nope to sitting outside in the snow waiting for a bus.

I've never ridden with Uber or even a cab. It's a thought though.

I can see where there would be legality issues.

Public transportation here in Montreal is very good, and I use it all the time. I'm a very nervous driver and I hardly ever drive.