I have a probably insulting question...

[conuly]

The other day, I was at the museum, and I commented (for no reason, actually, I don't know why I did that) that I can't abide strollers. Up the stairs, down the stairs, on the bus, off the bus....

The person I was talking to mentioned that she hadn't ever taken her Ana-sized kid on the bus yet. (Well, this *is* Staten Island....)

What she didn't know is that we'd actually detoured from our normal route, been incredibly late, and taken car service from the boat that day.

Seven dollars, pre-tip. Seven dollars for, what, a five minute car ride? Used to be four, only about a year ago.

If gas has gone up that much, I wonder that *anybody* can afford to drive! All you people living in places without public transportation ought to get on that.

So... how can people afford to drive? Are prices really that high? I'm out of the loop here, this being something I don't really care about in my day to day life.

(And, for your disinterested information, public transportation is much better for kids than cars. They can't snuggle with you in cars when they're upset, they can't stand up and hold the pole like a grownup in cars, they can't ring the bell in cars, they can't improve their social skills in cars (Ana's being taught right now not to stare. Better to teach her at three than to wait and teach her at seven. She's already learned how to say "excuse me" and "thank you bye thank you bye" and similar necessities) and all the money you save can go straight into college (if you live in a place without a decent educational system....) or other necessities. But I'm biased.)

Comments

[leora.livejournal.com]

This is true in more than one city I've lived in - public transit stops at a certain time at night. This is a serious problem if you want to go out to something and get back. Found out the hard way that there is no way to see a concert somewhere metro-accessible by metro, since by the time the concert ends, the metro has stopped running. BART stops running at night, leading to the inevitable breakup of socialness so people can make sure to catch the last BART.

Yes, if more people used it they might run all night long, but it's a serious inhibitor to people using it.

Plus, I don't like buses. Trains are good; I like trains. But with buses you have to identify your stop. And you have to interact with people. And often you have to stand up using as little space as you can while throngs of people crush against you, all trying to squeeze in. This happens on trains too, but I find it happens less often, and it tends to be easier to wait for the next train than for the next bus, since it's often indoors.

Oh, and on trains you never need to worry about identifying your stop, because they always have the same stops. So, you can know you have 4 stops to go and count it out. Buses don't stop if no one wants to get on or off, so you can never be sure where you are. Now, with cars, you still need to identify where you are. But if you mess up in a car, you double back. If you mess up on a bus, you get off in the middle of nowhere and either have a long, unpleasant walk or have to pay more money to try to catch your stop on a bus heading back.

Of course, I use public transit. I use it quite often. And I know some of the problems are ones that could be easily improved. But there are reasons to like cars, which also allow for some climate control, and less need to rush.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I didn't even mention the privacy issue.

Re the cargo discussion above: Furniture, not so often. Gym equipment, huge boxes of books, lengthy shopping trips (resulting in scads of bags), cases of pop/water/beer/whathaveyou, bushels of fruit....every week. You can't shop at Costco and take the bus home.

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

Aha! But you *could* share a car with another family if public transportation were a viable option and you only needed a car for shopping trips. :-)

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

I think Connie's point here too is that *if* everyone took public transportation (as is basically the case in NYC), demand (both in terms of ridership numbers as well as pubilc opinion and acceptance) would be enough that there would be no "no service" hours. For instance, the NYC subways don't stop running late at night, although they do come less frequently, say every 30 to 45 minutes. The Staten Island Ferry likewise runs all night, slowing down to every hour after 1:30am. And only a *very* few busses just STOP late at night, most of those have alternatives.
Public opinion on this is as important as numbers of riders because if everyone EXPECTS good, all-the-time service and demands it as their right, that will be listened to. Right now most Americans do not have that expectation or demand. Btw, another GOOD point in favor of public transportation especially late at night after parties is the fact that it will cut down on drunk drivers. One thing my mom never had to worry about if I went into the city to party was my driving drunk. I came home as I went - on the train. :-)

[leora.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, I agree that if everyone expected to regularly take good public transit, then public transit would improve. But last I heard, BART said they had no need to run trains later, because people don't use the train late at night.

But people don't use the train late at night, because you'll get stranded wherever you go, you idiots.

*sighs*

[conuly]

Buses don't stop if no one wants to get on or off, so you can never be sure where you are.

Why not tell the driver where to stop? That's what I often do. Occasionally, it comes up that the driver is a complete incompetant, but it's a lot easier than trying to drive, which'd get me lost *so* fast.

This is true in more than one city I've lived in - public transit stops at a certain time at night.

See, all you people really need to do is demand decent public transportation - which means it doesn't stop at night.