Do you like public transportation?

[Taliyaas]

Yes

No

I have no choice lol

[DeviousD]

Depends overwhelmingly on the actual area responsible for providing the public transportation. Some places have excellent public transportation at affordable prices, while other's have terrible, even dangerous forms of PT for unreasonable fares. There's a fairly significant variation in this sense & has a whole lot to do with how a city, town, or county spends the funds relegated to them to create their PT system & how much corruption & careless spending a certain area has been effected by. So to answer your initial question, yes & no. Depends where I am utilizing such services. In my hometown of Seattle there are different transit entities with some being better than other's. Concerning King County Metro my answer is largely, no although I can't appreciate their effort in implementing certain changes intended on streamlining people's journey's such as the Rapid Ride system which does pose some other issues, but I believe any type of system they decide to go with will. Now in regards to Sound Transit & the light rail system I will say that it's definitely a step up from metro, more comfortable, & far less dangerous. Once the lines expansion has been completed & it can go from north Seattle to south Tacoma I will likely strengthen my opinion regarding ST. At the end of the day though I do not believe PT should completely replace people's ability to own & operate their own vehicle & believe there should always be the option available for either or without there being incredibly expensive taxes applied to the use of personal transportation & infringing on people's ability to exercise free movement however they see fit which is unfortunately becoming more & more limited , for instance you are no longer allowed to take a hired ride into the SeaTac Airport that is not an electric or hybrid vehicle, they've completely banned combustible engines from entering the premises & I think that's a pretty concerning trend that will only gain steam with time & more PT options. What they need to do is make the PT system so much superior than driving a personal vehicle that people simply choose that option on their own freewill, & not essentially force them with ridiculous legislation that continues to chip away from our collective freedom's as individuals who are living their lives in a particular area.

[BCA6010]

Let me put it this way:

I like it in concept, hate it in execution. The US basically grew too rapidly (which also caused the urban sprawl problem that a lot of our oldest major cities have) and didn't have the side effect of forcing us to rebuild from WW2, so most of ours' are poorly optimized, and will never be as good as they need to be without redesigning massive chunks of our existing cities. This is more broadly why basic infrastructure has become even a federal government talking point.

By comparison, the mass public transit systems in Europe are far better implemented, so it makes a lot more sense from their point of view. Attempting to replicate or improve on it in the states would be an absurdly complicated feat that would probably flounder anyway just out of spite.

[Daniii101]

It depends. If it's like a really far away place where there is so much walking distance from the train station to the location- then I wish I had a car. But if the station is walking distance from the location then fine. But it also depends how many days a week we have to travel. Usually public transport is way cheaper. That's a plus! Car insurance and petrol prices are the downside. With COVID driving in a car is safer. Driving in a car also saves time.

Regardless, my preference is a car.

[Potteplante]

I absolutely love trains!

- I used to buy a zone ticket and just spend a couple of hours riding trains when I needed to escape as a teen.

Haven't done so in years though, last pic transport I used was a bus and it's alright, decent public transportation system here in the outskirts of Denmark, bit slow but fair.

[kellytheman]

Not really I never really have done public transportation except the city bus when I went to college and there was always loud people cursing and disrespectful people. I have also work security at the city bus station and people are even worse in a bad mood using profanity and I tell them the rules they start having a attitude with me, calling me rent a cop, saying I am disrespecting them, or even pull the race card on me cause I am white. I never took the subway and haven't flew much but I might just take a Uber or taxi if I need to get somewhere but I usually have a car. Also I can ride my bike.

[Sirenboobzilla]

Growing up in and around NYC, the subway and busses are synonymous with getting around way more than cars are. I actually like the subway. Get to travel around the city and just rest my feet, only having to pay attention to which stop I need to get off at

[eagleriverjohn]

I like the convenience of not having to drive, especially through congested cities. Also allows for more time to get things done you can't do while driving. Some of the people can be odd and when it's crowded it can be unpleasant, but I still like using it when I'm in a city that has a good system.

[zeitgeist057]

I think it's great if you have the time, to allow someone else to drive you. I enjoy taking a book or listening to something, just being lost in thoughts. It's so much better than driving, where you have to focus on the task because others are relying on you not to kill them with your deadly vehicle.

I am also a big fan of when the self-driving vehicles get better and more ubiquitous, lowering the cost.

[OfMiceandMen]

I only ever use the subways or Go train when I have a business meeting in Toronto. I imagine I look somewhat out of sorts with my black leather Australian outback hat, suit jacket, white dress shirt, tie with jeans, and my Blundstones.

But I am usually there for what I know and not how I dress.

[DancingQueen16]

Not really because I take the city bus to get to and from college and there are sometimes weirdos on the bus and if anyone ever tries to attack me while I'm waiting for a bus I have a whistle on my keychain I mean I've never had to use the whistle but I'd rather carry it and not need it then need it and not have it

[RavVid]

It is a semi yes semi no. Public transport works well in city areas but doesn't work well in the suburbs. There is a last 5 Km problem. It will get you to within 5 K pretty quickly but the last 5 K is hard.

I think driverless busses may solve the last 5k problem. In Vanuatu they a great system. Bongo vans drive around and drop you where you want to go without you having to walk. It helps they only have one road though. Some driverless version of this would be a winner.
Tra

[exitseven]

No, the public transportation where I live is a joke. It is slow and undependable., sometimes the buses and trains catch fire and last year a train got stuck on a bridge and when it started burning people had to jump out the window into the river and swim to shore.

[JSmuve]

Oooooo, Toronto. Just wanted to let you know that someone took a picture of you while you weren't looking. Might wanna report the person. Lot of unsavoury characters out there, especially in the news with all the TTC stabbings and beatings. Gotta watch yo 6.

[Anonymous]

i mean yes in a way that's it quick, relatively affordable, routine and it's nice to just do nothing but listen to my music, but no when it's crowded and it's even worse when it's crowded and i'm standing - the underground is hotter but doesn't jerk around as much as buses but buses clear out more quickly

[HaveNoName]

I LOVE IT, but not the way it is done in America (except NYC). Outside NYC and 2 or 3 other large metropolitan areas, public transport is non-existent in USA. I like the way it is done in Europe. I am not brining in Japan and rest of Far East as I have not been there in my adulthood.

[EmmaMary]

PUBLIC TRANSPORT...Here in the UK it's virtually non-existent and what little there is, is completely and totally unreliable... And even more so right now, with half the bloody Country on what seems to be permanent strike.

[Alessa13]

It is okay if I do not need to do any transfers, get on a train and get off and I am there. Transfers suck because now I have to get off and wait for the next train or bus and other people want to flirt or talk to me.

[Anonymous]

Last time I used it was on holiday I was staying in a village with a station. And took the train to the cities near by for meusums. I hated it. The train changes, 1 of them i was waiting for my train which had an arrival time. It was the one already in the station but the signs are the same. Its ineffective stressful and infuriating is what I came to the conclusion of.

[electromagnetic]

Not the TTC I don’t 🤣
But living downtown means I can get around faster than using an Uber

[menina]

No, I don't like it. The public transportation system in the country where I live sucks. But I have to use it because I don't drive.

[PBandJ_Nerd]

If we had it here I probably would. It's nicer than expecting everyone to drive cars, since not everyone has the ability to drive.

[bowenw]

I don't mind it if it's convenient to get to and faster than driving, especially if it's to work downtown. It can suck when it's crowded and not on time.

[Aerissa_Jade]

It isn't even a thing here and in the big city, something where you can drive in 20 or 30 minutes takes more than 3 hours on public transit.

Why would anyone want to exchange 30 minutes for 3 hours each way?

[loveslongnails]

Where is that? Usually it's the other way around. When I was working in NY or DC, it would take 30 minutes on the Metro and anywhere from 1 to 2 hours in a car, depending on traffic, and there's ALWYAS traffic.

[Aerissa_Jade]

@loveslongnails Western US, in the wide open spaces, no mass transit where I live at all, zero in my town of 200 people that I stay at during the winter months and I'm 50 miles from the nearest 'big' city which is a population of 20k.

If I go into the bigger cities, they have it but busses often only run twice a day for rush hour, and instead of going direct they zip zag all over to pick up and drop off, so it takes way longer than getting in a car and going straight to your destination.

Only the capital city has trains and they are the most efficient BUT if you have to transfer to a bus, you just lost it as you can get off at a station and wait two hours for the next bus to come.

Those that live near a train station and can get off without a transfer to their destination are the only ones that find them better than a car.

When it warms up, I roam around and live in as a digital nomad between many states, between them all they have a combined population of maybe 12 million and none of them have mass transit in the smaller towns, only the bigger cities.

People simply do not understand how wide open it is out here. That mass transit can't really be a thing.

[loveslongnails]

Ok... so if there's NO mass transit where you live, how can you offer a valid opinion on it's efficacy? LOL

[Aerissa_Jade]

@loveslongnails There is some in the nearby town 20k people and its pretty bad and the big cities have it and its pretty bad. I have lived in the city before and tried to rely on mass transit.

[loveslongnails]

It really depends on the city. DC has a great Metro and Boston's is pretty good too.

[Aerissa_Jade]

@loveslongnails True and biggest city I've lived in is Las Vegas and it wasn't that great there, unless you were right on the strip.

I was in SLC for a bit, not great there either, various smaller cities in Idaho and Montana, terrible... and Wyoming, very bad... but then again the state only has 600k people.

[loveslongnails]

Yes, those cities are not designed well for anything but buses, and they take as much time as autos

[katiesmuff]

I think it is nice to have, but I have never had to use it.