Posted on 08/08/2013 6:36:55 PM PDT by george76
I have always told people that you will get a lesson in civics when riding the bus and a study in society.
Try taking a bus or train which passes through a black neighborhood and see how the black passengers act in transit vs Asian, hispanic and white passengers.
Other than that, put your head phones on and let it rip. They are great.
the problem with public transit is that it is public
The AMTRAK or trains at Union station are good and more cost effective. You’ll be surprised at how many people went to Comic Con coming from there.
But, the Red or Blue lines are an “adventure”.
Now I rarely if ever take public transportation, whether visiting back in Chicago, or here in St. Louis. I do not trust it to be safe from crime, especially if you are an outnumbered European-American. And here in St. Louis, public transit is not as convenient or as timely as in Chicago.
About 43 years ago I lived and worked in Chicago. Public transit, definitely including suburban railroads, really worked and work there because it is an area of large, highly compact population centers that can only work efficiently with it. Now I live in a semi-rural area outside of Knoxville, TN and have also lived and worked in the Detroit, MI and Milwaukee, WI areas. It wouldn’t work in any of those areas, where I always drove my own vehicle to work and for most other purposes. In short, great and essential for Chicago, NYC, etc massive metropolitan ares, a bad boondoggle everywhere else.
We have a little bus service called “Dial-a-Ride,” mainly used by the elderly who no longer drive, handicapped folks, and the mentally ill.
Sometimes they forget to pick you up and at other times the won’t answer the phone. I’ll drive thanks, with little to no traffic. Takes me 8 minutes to get from one end of town to the other.
Funny thing is that if a privately owned service offers what the people want when they want it, they’ll often choose to pay more.
In Detroit the private Detroit Bus Company is growing in spite of the municipal bus service. DBS gives the people what they want. They don’t run regular routes but with a phone ap you can see where the nearest bus will be or even call the bus to pick you up at a nearby corner. Rather than letting little old ladies struggle blocks with armloads of groceries they drop them off right at their door. Funny thing is the fact that they advertize that open intoxicants are allowed on their buses.
Chck my post at 26. Looks like we’re on the same wave length.
.
I’ve stayed away from Massachusetts for many years. Why would I need to use their transit system?
Exactly.
That is because the vast majority of us don’t live in big, crowded cities.
Actually, in some places, even if you live in the suburbs mass transit is optimal. When I was on sabbatical at U.Penn. I took the SEPTA train in every day to get to the university from Media, where I was living. When I’m home in Kansas, the notion of using mass transit for anything is absurd.
I wonder if anyone has ever tracked her down.
Here’s the story: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/amber-lamps
Mass transit has killed more people than my gun.
I’m sure our Denver light rail will make lots of money for the area!/s
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.