Public Transportation

[braymoore]

Hey everybody!
I was thinking today as I was getting on a packed train here in Rio if all public transportation is like Rio. Over crowded, expensive, and very uncomfortable. And if you think that your state isn't doing the best of job when it comes to this subject, what are some ideas that maybe could be developed to better the way us citizens get around town?

 

[Lutherf]

We have busses running pretty much all the major routes here in Tucson and, from what I've seen, they do a VERY limited business. Most of the riders seem to be kids going to and from school without many other riders at all.

 

[braymoore]

Yeah I could see that being the case in a smaller city. In smaller cities they don't seem to need as many ways to get yourself around other than your own car. In my home town for example (Salt Lake City) they have been creating more and more public transports. They have buses, light rail system, and even a train that pretty much takes you to any city in Northern Utah. And people actually use them, maybe not so much the buses but the train is always packed around rush hour and the stations are filled with cars. I would have to say that Utah has done a pretty fantastic job when it comes to PT. Now in bigger cities like Rio, where I now live, it's absolutely horrifying! I don't even want to start ranting about it.

 

[vash1012]

Hey everybody!
I was thinking today as I was getting on a packed train here in Rio if all public transportation is like Rio. Over crowded, expensive, and very uncomfortable. And if you think that your state isn't doing the best of job when it comes to this subject, what are some ideas that maybe could be developed to better the way us citizens get around town?

Where I live (Columbia, SC) we have very little public transportation. Its essentially just buses that only come by once every hour or two and don't feel particularly safe mainly because of the people that are on them. I've never actually been on one, but I lived at a house that was right behind the bus stop and we had a ton of problems with the people who were waiting on the bus. They'd come in our yards to pee and defecate, sit on our poor, and generally nose around our property.

In other places though, no, its not like that at all. New York, Boston, and Washington D/C have very effective public transportation systems. The Metro in D/C is the nicest of the three in my opinion. Most of the European cities I've been in have very good public transportation. It can be crowded sometimes, sure, but its not uncomfortable and its not expensive.

Things that they do that make them work effectively:

1. They make A LOT of trips in the busy hours of the day. In Madrid, there was a train every 6 minutes. The others were similar.

2. They are very punctual. In all of those cities, there's a timer that tells you when the next train is coming.

3. There's a subway or bus stop within a few blocks of almost every place in the city. Best way to prevent overcrowding is to spread out the points where people get on and off the train.