Anyone with Public Transport Woes?

[Kungfu Dinobot]

Ahhh.... Public Transport, the domain of the lower class and those who can't drive. They're made to serve the people, but you'll have to pay fares and they don't always come on time....


Once, years ago, the bus failed on me (and a bunch of other people) in the middle of the road.


Another time, much more recently, I had to wait 40+ minutes for a bus.


Ever since an accident a year ago, all trains move twice as slow now.


Several times Buses zoom past me and trains shut their doors before I could get in.



What are your woes?

[Jaynz]

I'm very thankful not to have needed public transportation for long. Just a little bit in college (which wasn't so bad, since it was a college town and it was common for everyone to use it to get to the mall), and then an agonizing couple of months in Baltimore from when our Zephyr finally died until we got our first new car. The light rail wasn't too bad if you stuck to the suburbs, but if you went downtown at all... that was insanely scary. We took the bus there once and vowed never again.

[electro girl]

Ahhh.... Public Transport, the domain of the lower class

Well that is pretty offensive and condescending.

[Denyer]

Look on the bright side... if the kid's stupid enough to talk to people like this in real life, someone's going to beat it out of him sooner rather than later.

Random stuff like this aside (which can happen in any context) I have no qualms about getting a bus into work in good weather so that I can walk back. Trains are overpriced if you don't advance book, but again the service is decent apart from rush hour.

From talking to people I get the impression it's far more variable and generally poorer in the US, but part of that's the far greater area to be covered.

[Cliffjumper]

Several times Buses zoom past me and trains shut their doors before I could get in.

The drivers probably realise what a twat you are.

[inflatable dalek]

Just walk you lazy sods.

[electro girl]

Just walk you lazy sods.

But it is far away and my housemate got a new bike lock I can't pick!

[Jaynz]

Just walk you lazy sods.

Our country was designed with horses, trains, and cars in mind - in that order. Walking was for you Europeans. :P

[Kungfu Dinobot]

Well that is pretty offensive and condescending.

I'm one of those lower classes, if you're wondering. I wouldn't bother with public transport is that wasn't the case.

[Addl]

I almost never used public transportation in Germany to the obvious mentioned reasons above... Unwashed masses, a lot of loud nose dripping teenagers and if you are lucky, drunken soccer fans.

No, I drive car on the *thank god* good highway network for nearly 30 years.

Just here in shanghai I use subway every day. They come every 5 minutes and cost me only roughly 40 eur per month instead of 450 eur fuel in Germany.

So here it is a yay to P.T. !

[Skyquake87]

I use public transport and find it fine, but then where I live i have an excellent rail hub which means i can get to exotic faraway places like Leeds and Manchester with ease. I can also get up to Carlisile by rail, but i tried this once and it took aaaaages as it was on a banger train that stopped EVERYWHERE. The buses are good around here too. Three companies operate in the area, so there's plenty of options and availability (if not much in the way of competitive pricing!).

In terms of cost, i get a travelpass through work which keeps the cost down (group rate, yes?) but I do find that rail travel is expensive in Britain generally - especially if you're travelling long distances, but that's down to the awesome way the industry was privatised and the clusterf**k that's been made of that. the only real benefit rail privatisation has brought is that train stations are much nicer these days. We're still suffering with the same clapped out rolling stock and delays. There's less investment in new trains than under British Rail. sigh.

I was actually quite surprised how much bus fares are these days ( i forget my pass one day), £4 - £6 for a return ticket off peak. Weekly tickets are creeping up to £20 a week. last time I bought one of these ten years ago, they cost £10. A 50% increase in ten years...crikey.

[Kungfu Dinobot]

man, you Europeans get all the luck (except maybe, as that one guy, Germany)

I was actually quite surprised how much bus fares are these days ( i forget my pass one day), £4 - £6 for a return ticket off peak. Weekly tickets are creeping up to £20 a week. last time I bought one of these ten years ago, they cost £10. A 50% increase in ten years...crikey.

Yeah, exactly, I always thought buses and trains are for people who can't afford cars, yet they charge exorbitant fees to rub shoulders with strangers and crawl 'round the city:mad:

[inflatable dalek]

With the current stupid cost of petrol the bus likely still works out comparatively cheap compared to running a car.

Our country was designed with horses

Public transport whoas you might say.

[Knightdramon]

I walk around. Or use my bike a lot. Nevertheless, public transports in Greece are either a blessing or a nightmare depending on where you want to get and which line you'll use.

Old style trains? It sucks. Too noisy, lots and lots of junkies and even though I'm well built I avoid taking it at night. The stations are like british horror movies. Scary stuff.

Metro? Hmm, not bad, decent train stations, speedy, most of the times you don't have to wait more than 5 minutes for a ride, but due to riots they tend to close down the more central stations...which coincidentally happen to be the stations you change lanes. So you might as well be stuck on a train heading to the other side of town.

Buses and electricity run trolleys used to be much better, in the last 3 years they've downsized a lot of their runs and generally discontinue entire routes. There's some notoriously late routes. I routinely waited for up to 40 minutes sometimes, and once I waited exactly 59 minutes before saying **** it all and leaving.

The tram is a joke. Good thing is, the tickets for all means of transport are flat rate [1.4 euros per ticket] and are usable on all means for 1.5 hours. Meaning I can take a bus at 13:00, validate my ticket on entry, ride it for 10 minutes, switch lanes\means of transport and not have to validate another ticket until 14:30.

[Denyer]

With the current stupid cost of petrol the bus likely still works out comparatively cheap compared to running a car.

An annual bus pass isn't bad value-wise, but versus personal transport once you've got a car it's not particularly if you aren't regularly needing to do a lot of mileage and don't spent forever stuck in traffic.

[electro girl]

I almost never used public transportation in Germany to the obvious mentioned reasons above... Unwashed masses, a lot of loud nose dripping teenagers and if you are lucky, drunken soccer fans.

I had a splendid time using the U-bahn in Berlin. Clean carriages, frequent trains, easy to navigate even with my small grasp on the German language and the only drunks were us.

[Jaynz]

Public transport whoas you might say.

Ouch... just... wrong... the pain...

[inflatable dalek]

That's a neigh to my joke then?

[Jaynz]

That's a neigh to my joke then?

Damn you and your desire to exterminate with puns!

[Rack 'n Ruin]

That's a neigh to my joke then?

Best rein in the jokes. I think you're now flogging a dead horse. And not just at work!