How is public transport like in your area?

[Doctor Cynic]

Let's say that from tomorrow you had to stop using your car at all, and that includes electric cars and priuses. How easy would it be for you to live (without calling cabs)? Are there places you have lived with excellent public transport, or do you live in a rural area, or cookie-cutter suburb that paves every inch with concrete?

I've lived in Hong Kong before, and over there all mass transit is privately run, and profitable. It's also cheap and efficient, because of ultra-high densities. And those who drive to work are masochists anyway, since traffic is horrible, fuel is the most expensive in the world (currently around US$4.02 per gallon), and parking is like in Manhatten. So even the upper-middle class take buses to work.

In London, mass transit is excellent if you're going to the city centre, but going between suburbs can be a pain in the ass if you don't know how the system works. But it's probably the worst of Europe's main cities.

In Vancouver, public transport in the inner core and towards the suburbs is quite decent by North American standards, but many suburbs themselves are somewhat auto-dependent. But a rapid transit line is currently being built, and plans for a light rail network within the eastern suburbs (Surrey, Langley, Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows) are being pushed forward. Hopefully the metro area won't be so auto-dependent.

Where I am right now (in my first year in college in Waterloo, a region of half a million west of Toronto), the bus service works if you schedule your time well, but it's inconvenient if you have no car. But the region is moving on a light rail plan, and hopefully the Liberal provincial government Conservative federal government (which has pledged funding for transit repeatedly but hasen't given a dime) will be able to make it a reality. By that time, it would be amusing that Metro Detroit with a population 8 times ours would have worse mass transit infrastructure than us.

As for Toronto itself, the city has public transport that works superbly when it doesn't screw up :P . Going between downtown and the suburbs works at best of times, but transit within suburbs needs work. A provincial government plan to spend $18 billion to improve those by 2020 will hopefully (if the Conservatives give their share) improve things dramatically.

So how do the people and the governments in your area think when they think of transit? Are they supportive, or are there many nimbys who don't want "undesirables" to invade their space?

[liberal N proud]

1. Buses if I want to drive 3 miles to the nearest stop

My work is 5 miles, Not worth the stop at the bus station.

[HereSince1628]

2. Hahaahahahahahahahahahahah! What public transit?

[MountainLaurel]

3. Baaaad

There's a bus system in the area, but it is very limited in scope, in terms of routes available, the area covered, and the number of buses per hour. Also, they don't post their schedules or routes online.

[tularetom]

4. Piss poor

The county runs a highly subsidized bus system and we have half a dozen daily Amtrak trains at a station about 30 miles away. Fortunately there aren't many commuters in this rural area but in town there is gridlock twice a day.

Unfortunately our farmer oriented county supes do everything they can to squelch public transit because the same funds are used for roads (and the roads are fallin apart).

[kestrel91316]

5. Good. I am two blocks from the nearest bus route, and 4 blocks from

the Red Line Rapid which goes right past my office. I could get by just fine. Instead of buying large packs of paper towels from Smart & Final(4 miles away) for the office, I assume I could order them from my vet supplier. Grocery, drugstore, shopping malls, all within 1/2 hour by bus (counting walking to stop and waiting). Most stuff is within walking distance of my place - this is a community with lots of observant Jews and they require lots of services within walking distance.

[tekisui]

6. non-existent.

It is very, very limited in time and stops. Buses only.

[Systematic Chaos]

7. We have lot of buses in Vegas, but slow as f**k

Takes 3 hours each way to get from here to the hospital where I get wound care right now. And they're notorious for having 15 or 20 minute buses that don't show up at all for twice that or more.

And just try getting these self-absorbed people to vote for a bond that would provide money to improve the service. Mmmkay.

[Speck Tater]

8. Bus routes here are ridiculous.

To go to the mall 5 miles east from my home I have to take a southbound bus all the way downtown to the main station, and then get on a different bus that goes back north to the mall. It seems like the only way to get from point A to point B, no matter where those two points are, is point A to downtown station, transfer, and then go downtown station to point B. I can get anywhere I want, but the trips are ridiculously long, and all involve going to the downtown station, even to cover a relatively short distances between two points far from downtown.

[DemInBuckhead]

9. In Atlanta...okay

I could get by without a car here but I live just off of Peachtree (the main street) so transit to most of the business and cultural centers isn't that difficult. Atlanta's very spread out so people generally could not do this.

The political environment for transit here...not good. Our system has zero state financial support because of the desire of downstate politicians to stick it to Atlanta at every opportunity. The DOT and development lobbies are very powerful...not good for non-car oriented development and transportation.

[Berry Cool]

10. Your question requires little deep thought from me, as I don't have a car.

I live more easily than some people would think, but then again the vast majority of Americans can't seriously imagine being able to live without their cars. They have absolutely no idea how I survive.

Public transportation here isn't perfect, and does require planning, but could be better. One thing that bugs me is that because I live a bit of a ways out of the city, my route always seems to get the most broken-down buses. But there are a lot more options for going places here, and hours at which you can do it, and frequency with which you can do it, than in some places I've lived. Sheesh, one county over and it can take you two hours to travel five miles on a bus because of the poor service in that system.

Also, I've lived in smaller cities and towns, including one where sometimes the only option was taking a cab, and the cab might arrive any time from 20 minutes to two hours after you called. Also, it might already contain other passengers, or stop to pick up/drop off others along the way. On a weekend night, it was also highly likely to be crammed full of drinking college students, and one never knew when one of them might succumb to a touch of sickness enroute. (Local cab companies eventually instituted a $25 cleaning fee on top of the fare for anyone who puked in a cab.)

So, really, I don't think my life is so bad right now...but I do know what it's like to live with crazy systems where you can't go anyplace without going downtown first, and it takes you an extra hour or two, and you can't go anywhere Sundays at all because they just don't run...then again, I try to avoid cabs here, because they are hideously expensive.

Here's an irony for you. Keith Olbermann, who cannot drive because of a vision problem, said once that he had no problem living for a total of 10 years in Los Angeles, the one city considered utterly unlivable for anyone without their own personal vehicle. Why? Because anytime he wanted a cab, the cab companies were sitting there idle, ready to send him one in a second. Go figure. Maybe I could do great in Los Angeles.

[Berry Cool]

11. Oh, and to address the issue of how people think of transit here,

they seem to tend to think of it as "It's good for commuting, if it's convenient for you." Or "If you work downtown, it's cheaper than parking." Many people, though, will say it's just not convenient for them because of where they work, live, or both.

It's very popular for going to sporting events because of its relative cheapness compared to parking (unless you're planning to tailgate, and then obviously nothing's going to stop you from driving). But that's about it. Otherwise, you use your car.

It's pretty much assumed that everybody has a car, and if you don't, you must be very, very poor. Hence the assumption that the only people who use public transportation are the poor and the "undesirables." However, in practice, it's not at all true. Too bad so many people think it is.

[pscot]

12. Voters yesterday rejected a $16 billion bond issue

that was supposed to bring our transportation system to perfection. Bwaa haa haa!:rofl:

[TheWraith]

13. There is no mass transit here.

It's a rural area, where you could never run really cost effective public transport. People in town can walk, but everyone else has to have a car.

[NMDemDist2]

14. we have a 'dial a ride' system that works pretty well for a $1 each way

as long as you book it in advance

if you need it 'today' it probably won't happen, and it'll cost you $5 if they do fit you in

[diane in sf]

15. good, especially living right in the center of town, not so good in poorer neighborhoods and slow in

the far reaches of Hunters Point and the Sunset.
Regionally varies quite a bit, still pretty radial with SF as the center--don't try to get directly from the East Bay to Marin County without a car unless you have hours to burn.

[emmadoggy]

16. None. Zero. Zilch. Non-existent.

I live in a rural area. Small town of about 4500 people. We live a couple miles outside of town. No taxis, no buses, nothing. No cars would mean horse and buggy time - and we have no place to keep horses, so......yeah, we'd be pretty much screwn.

[ramapo]

17. Not too good

I'm in North Jersey, an area that was once well-served by trolley and train, then bus and train, and then not much of anything. Now, if you live in the right town, and are especially lucky enough to live within walking distance of a station, and happen to work someplace served by the train service (mainly NYC), then you have a decent mass-transit option. The same is true of express bus routes to the city.

Otherwise you are basically SOL. To get from here to there by bus takes hours and usually multiple transfer, if even possible. This for a trip that probably takes less than an hour by car. Train service is all about going to/from NYC during rush hour.

People aren't much into walking. Many towns aren't especially pedestrian friendly. Sidewalks are rare and there's not much to walk to. Plus people are lazy and would rather drive across the street rather than walk.

My idea to put light rail down the median of every existing highway with bus feeders hasn't gone too far. It would create an awful lot of jobs and provide an alternative to the car.