buses, subways, trains.. how are you in them?

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I rarely go on buses or trains. I happen to live near a large city with a subway system and my husband had to go downtown for a medical check up earlier today. We ended up taking the subway since the clinic was in the heart of the city as we live in the suburbs. I don't usually have problems with sensory issues anymore so much but let me tell you.. there were TONNES of people who got onto the subway from a certain stop AND when the train was ready to go again, there was this HORRIBLE buzzing sound in the background. I wanted to crawl out of my skin, I had this urge to yell at the people in my way and I felt like screaming but I obviously controlled myself. When we got off of the subway my husband said my face was beat red and I had a horrible headache afterwards. I would prefer to drive even if it means dealing with a lot of heavy traffic over taking the subway again. How are you when you are on buses, trains or.. if you have one in your area, subways? I gotta tell you, after today's experience.. I hate them!

Hate 'em. I can only take so much before I start wanting to bolt.

Buses suck.

They don't bother me at all. Large amounts of people in small spaces or sensory overload don't really affect me. When I'm on a bus or subway, I'm typically less worried about the people around me and more worried about missing my destination.

Give me a window seat, some space, be quiet, and I'm fine. * grin *

Or else, if you're an artist and would like to sit next to me and talk ... Who knows, I just may end up buying a painting from you, like actually happened once.

Or if you share an interest, you're also welcome to sit and talk.

Would prefer not to be on a subway though ... Too enclosed, too far from nature.

~~ the phoenix

... also known as "CountryDreaming"

I ride the school bus every weekday. Today the crowd was very loud. I needed to put on my ipod, but I could still hear them over the music. (I put my volume very low because I don't like things loud.)
It was miserable. So I try my best to avoid public transportation. Even public places like the doctors office are pretty bad.

Maybe you should bring earplugs with you. You can cover them up with headphones so it won't look weird.

I think I am I the minority here in the autism community. I have no problems with buses and trains. I hate standing but I live with it. I have been on crowded ones and I would rather sit. I have literally fallen in the seat when the bus would start moving. I just wish the drivers would wait till we're seated because they will never know someone has bad balance and they might fall down and get hurt. It's good my balance is good or else I'd be falling to the ground or into someone else besides the empty seats.
I hate standing in the rain and when the bus is late but that doesn't happen often.

No problem at all for me.

You'll never get me on public transport.

Living in NYC, I rely on the subway for 99% of my transportation needs. Good thing is, one of my obsessive Aspie interests concerns subways and trains, so it's usually fine for me... I've pretty much memorized all the various classes of NYC subway cars, and I can bore you to death discussing the differences between the old IRT, BMT, and IND divisions.

The only times I really hate it is when I'm packed into a train like a sardine, or if some obnoxious jackass is making life miserable for me. Unfortunately, this isn't an uncommon occurrence. I'd like the subway a lot better if I had my own private lounge car, or if they'd let me actually drive the train once in a while.

I try to avoid busses like the plague, since they move much too slowly, and my motion sickness becomes a huge problem when riding a bus.

All that said, I really miss having a car... Back in other places, one of my favorite forms of stress relief was to take a long drive out in the country, with no particular destination in mind and with some decent music on the stereo. Unfortunately, I don't have that option here in NYC.

I can't stand those modern boxes that they call buses.

I'd be okay if it wasn't so crowded as well. I have taken the subway many times in the past and never had an extreme reaction to what happened like I had today. But the horrible buzzing sound AND being enclosed by tonnes of other people, some of them smelling like cigarette smoke as I had failed to mention earlier was just WAY too much for me..

I have no problem with public transportation at all. I have been riding trains, subways, and buses for years now. As a matter of fact I was a metrophile during my elementary school years.

I rather use metrorail than to own a car.

I use the buses and trains. You're NOT going to get me to drive. I'm happy with the buses and trains over that other option.

They don't usually bother me. I just switch off - so that I didn't have to absorb all of those sounds and conversations which surround me... The worse it' when the bus is fully loaded with people - than it's like a nightmare! I feel trapped and I feel I can't breathe... And that is why I always take a bus, at the hours that there are only few people in it. (I figured it out by insightful observation). Anyway I'm more overwhelmed by the crowd in open spaces - like in the city centre or in a mall... Too much motion, too many images and colours and sounds...

As long as I do not have to be touching anyone, and have either a book or a window seat, I'm okay with it. I like being able to travel without having to pay too much attention to where you're going, just being able to watch the landscape slip past... so I like trains (buses and trams are harder, because they twist and turn more, and the stops are not as well signposted, and you have to press the button if you want them to stop, so you have to pay more attention to what's going on). I also find the rocking of the trains to be soothing.

In the area I live in, the buses and trains are full of ignorant mouth-breathers that have no respect for the law, and spread contagious illnesses (olds, the flu etc) because they don't stay at home when they need to, and don't cover their mouths. The "authorities" need to introduce ZERO TOLERANCE (it's worked elsewhere), but they and the drivers are too gutless. Kids play degenerate rap s**t on their mobile phone speakers, and no-one challenges them. A couple of times I've told the driver that was happening, and he told me to "just relax", as if I were the one doing something wrong. It's bad enough being forced to use public transport, through being denied the ability to earn a decent living to buy a car, without having insult added to injury by having to wait 10-15 minutes for a bus full or cretins and thugs.