How many people here use public transportation?

Flyersfan

Flyersfan

CAGiversary!
Feedback
12 (100%)
Buses, subways, and taxi's are the big 3, so I listed them.


I've been thinking about this a lot lately, how much money I could save just by using public transportation. I've used the bus to get around before after I had gotten into a car accident, but now I'm thinking of doing it on a daily basis. I'm not in a big city, and it takes about 5 minutes to get to the bus stop from where I am now typing this (not a big deal at all, I run daily). The amount of money i saved riding my town's bus for those 2 months was pretty big.


In the next 5 years, I am planning on moving out to a bigger city (career related), in which I would assume its not unusual to ride public transportation (I've never seen a taxi in this town).


So yeah, just answer the poll or share a story or two ;)
 
Public transportation isn't bad at all, actually. You'll meet some, eh, colorful people, but the ride is generally smooth and hasslefree.
 
[quote name='Moxio']colorful people[/quote]

Racist motherfucker. ;)

I haven't used mass transit since.. I was really little.
 
[quote name='Hex']Racist motherfucker. ;)

I haven't used mass transit since.. I was really little.[/QUOTE]

:rofl:

Actually by colorful I meant bizarre, but I guess it could go that way.
 
[quote name='Moxio']:rofl:

Actually by colorful I meant bizarre, but I guess it could go that way.[/QUOTE]
Well you are the Official CAG Racist, ya know ;)
 
I absolutely LOVE the public transport systems in Paris and London and if there was an equivalent where I live, I definitely be using it.

Unfortunately for me there's no subway, I'm too poor for a taxi, and the nearest bus stop is a good 10 miles away, which is a lot for a high school kid stuck with no car.

I should be getting a car of my own soon (before 2007 begins), so I'll be using that.
 
[quote name='LiquidNight']I absolutely LOVE the public transport systems in Paris and London and if there was an equivalent where I live, I definitely be using it.

Unfortunately for me there's no subway, I'm too poor for a taxi, and the nearest bus stop is a good 10 miles away, which is a lot for a high school kid stuck with no car.

I should be getting a car of my own soon (before 2007 begins), so I'll be using that.[/QUOTE]

Yes, when I went to France the public transpo was pretty good.
 
[quote name='Mr. Anderson']I ride the bus all over town. I live in the heart of Austin, so downtown is like a playground.[/QUOTE]
You mean the buses that are dressed up to look like trolleys?
 
Well, I'm planning on taking the bus tommorow to the local mall just to get used to it again. I just hate standing at the intersection waiting for the bus to come. Makes me feel......naked.
 
No I drive my car. Mass-transit in Charlotte is pretty much limited to buses and God only knows how many transfers I'd have to endure to get from where I live to school so it's not worth it. I wouldn't mind using it downtown but downtown in Charlotte is all of about maybe 15 square blocks.
 
I drive a car 100% of the time. Unless I go to the post office half a mile from my house in which case I walk (excluding winters). Now during my 4.5 years of college I drove to the train station (free parking) and took the subway to school. The monthly pass, unlimited rides, was $26 a month with student discount.
 
Public transit works really great if you live near a bus route that goes to a couple useful destinations. When you have to do a transfer or two things can become a huge pain since busses run rate or schedules don't match up, it's really fun when you find yourself waiting at a corner 20 minutes in the middle of fucking winter.
 
I occasionally take the RTA (electric train in this case) if I'm going downtown for something since it's a straight shot - though it takes almost as long to get to the station as it would to drive downtown. Depends on what the parking situation would be like.

But 99% of the time, my car is my ride.
 
I rode the bus when I was younger. Now I have a b/f with a car. I dont think we go anywhere with a bus route anyway.
 
[quote name='LiquidNight']I absolutely LOVE the public transport systems in Paris and London and if there was an equivalent where I live, I definitely be using it.[/QUOTE]

Agreed-- I absolutely love how easy it is to get practically *anywhere* in London. Buy a travelcard and go anywhere all day for one fee, and all that, plus taxis available practically everywhere. My only complaints were that the trains don't run nearly late enough-- If you got out of a concert at 11pm, you would have to run a half mile to the station and pray you'd catch that last train. That, and how late they can run on certain lines, which is really no fun in the winter, or if you're on the way to the airport and need to be there fast. And there can be some major crowding issues during some times. And the taxis can be a bit dodgy so you have to be careful about the illegal minicabs and being attacked and all that.

But it's amazingly convenient, all that aside, and suprisingly easy to learn your way around it. I probably know my way around the London Underground better than I do my own hometown.

Either way, I'd love to have an option that like that where I live. We have a really horrible bus system that is unreliable, unsafe, and a waste of time, so I drive myself.
 
I have used mass transit here in Orlando, and it sucks pretty bad. You have to wait forever for the next bus to come around and there are plenty of "colorful" people. Im much happier driving a car. If it were a bit more convenient I would definitely use it.
 
I take the bus.. around campus :D Mmm I didn't notice the last option.. but I typically drive.. The subway/metro is nice at times.. too bad MN doesn't have that.
 
When I lived in Boston, I used the subway and bus all the time. Since I moved to Augusta, GA, I've seen bus stops but I have yet to see a bus on the road.
 
A lot more people take the bus than what i was expecting. lol.



Do you guys wait a while at bus stops? Seems I had to wait 10 minutes since the bus is either 5 minutes early, or 5 minutes late.
 
I take the bus, I have no car right now so I can't drive anywhere. The bus is a hassle to use since it's sometimes early, but almost always late by 5-10 minutes. And it takes me 45 minutes to an hour and half to get anywhere usually.
 
I wish I could take a bus or train in Phoenix. Some lines are every 15 minutes, but most are every half hour. It's also so spread out here that to go anywhere by bus would take you at least an hour. Back in NYC it was perfect. The west wasn't made for public transportation.
 
They adopted a simple approach in the Philadelphia area: they left the pitifully inadequate 2-lane highways in place, and let horrendous traffic congestion convince everyone to pile into the trains (that, and a parking space costs an arm, a leg, and a chunk of your thigh.)

I rode the trains into UPenn for quite a long time, until one day someone at work suggested a bus route, as an alternative. Boy, was I surprised. I was used to seeing buses stop at every block as they crawled through the city, and they were usually packed to the gills (ugh.)

Between the city and the suburbs, however, the bus was often faster than the train--in spite of the traffic--and it was frequently empty (or sparsely populated). That felt nice, but it was also sad in a way...nothing like watching a ponderous, lumbering bus spew out clouds of foul smoke...just to carry 3 passengers. :whistle2:s
 
I go to school in Austin....so I take the university shuttles to and from school. I use my car to get around town though.

I really like public transportation though...less traffic, no need to find parking, and cheaper.
 
Aside from the school bus, which I rode only when needed, the only public transportation I have used was riding a taxi when I was in Philidelphia. Aside from that, I have yet to ride on a bus or train of any sort and only flown to Miami and back in my life.
 
The public bus transportation system here sucks. They back up traffic more than reducing it, the very definition of irony.

I stick to my car and stay away from buses whenever possible to save driving time.
 
I have a car (a 1964 Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia, hence the user name,) but I don't drive it much: once, maybe twice a week.

The rest of the time, I use my bike or walk.
 
I sometimes take the bus to school and back home... embarrassingly my apartment is only 3 blocks from school haha. Just that sometimes I'm at the right time to catch the bus, otherwise I won't wait for it. And the bus is free for university students so that doesnt hurt either; maybe it'll only hurt my lack of exercise.
 
[quote name='I AM WILLIAM H. MACY']Haha I knew no cheap ass would select taxi

No true cheap ass uses taxis except in emergencies[/quote]



Is a taxi really that bad? I'd think it would be easier since it takes you exactly where you want to go, unlike a bus. Must be pretty expensive then.



Note, I've never been on a taxi, don't know anyone that's been on a taxi, and I've seen taxis only when I traveled up to Philadelphia and New York.
 
[quote name='Flyersfan']Buses, subways, and taxi's are the big 3, so I listed them.


I've been thinking about this a lot lately, how much money I could save just by using public transportation. I've used the bus to get around before after I had gotten into a car accident, but now I'm thinking of doing it on a daily basis. I'm not in a big city, and it takes about 5 minutes to get to the bus stop from where I am now typing this (not a big deal at all, I run daily). The amount of money i saved riding my town's bus for those 2 months was pretty big.


In the next 5 years, I am planning on moving out to a bigger city (career related), in which I would assume its not unusual to ride public transportation (I've never seen a taxi in this town).


So yeah, just answer the poll or share a story or two ;)[/QUOTE]

You in PA? SEPTA rep'n!
 
I wish I had access to public transportation .. but alas I live in the middle of nowhere. Nothing around for miles except for farms and woods. I have a 50 mile commute (one way) to work and it sucks.
 
The Metro here in the DC area is terrible IMO. It takes me about 30-40 minutes to drive in to DC (not during rush of course), taking Metro that same trip is well over an hour. If I lived walking distance to a Metro or needed to go somewhere the Metro could take me every day, I'd probably use it, but having to drive to the station, park, wait for a train... It's just too slow. Not to mention that it's too expensive. In fact I use it so infrequently that I still haven't picked up a parking pass (something they started a few years ago necessitated by employee fraud...) I think I have used it a time or two since that started, but I've managed to park on the street.

Plus out of the couple dozen times I've used it TWICE I've had a situation where there was a fire or some other problem that caused the Metro to stop trains on my line and ferry people around a stop or two by bus. So instead of 1 hour 15 minutes it ends up taking 2 to 3 hours to get to where you're going. Not good.

I use the Metro when I fly into National airport (there is a stop right at the airport) or when I'm going into DC for a very very large event. (Such as The Komen Race for the Cure, if it's just something like a Wizards game I drive.)
 
I live in Kansas City and ride the buses. The system's not the greatest and it usually takes me an hour and 15-30 minutes to get to work (as opposed to 30 minutes if I drove), but it's not that bad if you adjust your schedule to it. I use the time on the bus to catch up on my reading or DS gaming. It's nice to have that personal time before work.

The buses are usually on time. I try to allow a 10 minute window (5 before/5 after) for scheduled stops just to be safe.
 
I hate public transportation. I haven't used it in over 5 years. This weekend though I will need to take a shuttle to the airport. Not happy about it at all
 
[quote name='ryanbph']I hate public transportation. I haven't used it in over 5 years. This weekend though I will need to take a shuttle to the airport. Not happy about it at all[/QUOTE]

You hate the T? I cant wait to take it for the first time :)
 
I LOVE the DC Metro, but there are a few points to consider.

Flyersfan, since you said you are moving soon, I would consider moving to within walking distance of a bus stop or subway station. I used to take the DC metro everyday, but I moved to a place 1 block from the station and I worked about 2 blocks from a station. And it was just 4 stops between work and home. So it was wonderful. But as someone else pointed out, if you have to drive to the subway station and you con't work near a station, it wouldn't be that great.

Here's my advice if you really want to save money:

Sell your car
Get a job next to a bus or subway stop
Get a house/apt next to a bus or subway stop (and try to avoid any transfers!)
When you need a car take a taxi or use a car sharing service, like ZipCar, FlexCar or a similar service.

http://www.zipcar.com/
http://www.flexcar.com/

They are rental cars for just an hour or two, like when you need to drive to the mall in the suburbs.

When you need to drive longer, like drive home for the holidays, rent a car.

Yes, taxis and car rentals are expensive, but it is much cheaper than having a car.

I know lots of people in the city who do this, but you need to be in an urban area for it to work.

OK, that's my suggestion.


vbmenu_register("postmenu_2312681", true); vbmenu_register("postmenu_2312681", true);
 
Do any of you have lightrail in your city? How is it? They're building it here and I'm not sure how it'll be. It won't be read for another year and a half or so and there's only one line. So unless you just happen to need that one route, I'm thinking it's a total waste of tax dollars.
 
[quote name='quercus']I LOVE the DC Metro, but there are a few points to consider.

Flyersfan, since you said you are moving soon, I would consider moving to within walking distance of a bus stop or subway station. I used to take the DC metro everyday, but I moved to a place 1 block from the station and I worked about 2 blocks from a station. And it was just 4 stops between work and home. So it was wonderful. But as someone else pointed out, if you have to drive to the subway station and you con't work near a station, it wouldn't be that great.

Here's my advice if you really want to save money:

Sell your car
Get a job next to a bus or subway stop
Get a house/apt next to a bus or subway stop (and try to avoid any transfers!)
When you need a car take a taxi or use a car sharing service, like ZipCar, FlexCar or a similar service.

http://www.zipcar.com/
http://www.flexcar.com/

They are rental cars for just an hour or two, like when you need to drive to the mall in the suburbs.

When you need to drive longer, like drive home for the holidays, rent a car.

Yes, taxis and car rentals are expensive, but it is much cheaper than having a car.

I know lots of people in the city who do this, but you need to be in an urban area for it to work.

OK, that's my suggestion.


vbmenu_register("postmenu_2312681", true); vbmenu_register("postmenu_2312681", true);[/quote]



This Thanksgiving my family is doing something different for a change, we are going up to NYC and having thanksgiving at my sisters apartment (its very nice, I don't know the exact location of it but you can see so much out of her window, its like being in the heart of NYC.) So I'll be up there for 3 days, I might as well try to see how different their public transportation is, and what routes their are for buses. I don't think I'd like to use the rental cars, I'd just like to go somewhere and be there without the hassel of driving.
 
[quote name='SithFran']Do any of you have lightrail in your city? How is it? They're building it here and I'm not sure how it'll be. It won't be read for another year and a half or so and there's only one line. So unless you just happen to need that one route, I'm thinking it's a total waste of tax dollars.[/quote]

There is a lightrail in Houston where I'm from. It really serves as a "park and ride" type of transportation...to ease the congestion around the downtown, medical and stadium centers. I've only used it once in my life to get to Reliant Stadium from a far away parking lot. To me...its not much different than a bus only lane. There has been so many accidents involving the lightrail hitting cars/people...its not even funny.
 
Oh, I forgot to add. The public transportation in Denver is by FAR the best of any i've ever used.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top