Public Transport

[PancaKe]

How much does it suck?

My story today is about a train ride to and from the city.
My boyfriends sister was wearing a pair of very skanky short shorts. Before leaving the house, everyone had asked her either "are you wearing that?" or "what happend to your pants?". So we're sitting on thsi train, headed to sydney, and about 20 minutes into the train ride, some old Indian man begins talking to us. Not to be rude to Indians, but I'm not used to understanding a very thick accent, and neither was my boyfriend or his sister. This guy is saying stuff, and we're just smiling and nodding, pretending we understand. Me and my boyfriend stop paying attention to him, but he starts saying stuff to his sister like "you have a pretty face" "you have nice legs" and stuff like that. Freaked out, she looks out the window. The guy then starts telling her to go sit next to him and "i can give you some tips. come sit next to me."

So we got off that train and moved carriages.

Freaky.

On the way home, because my boyfriend lives out in the sticks, hardly any trains go there. And so we had to leave our concert early, and we still missed the last train by 4 minutes.

Public transport sucks.

[Andrew]

You shouldn't be dating someone who like, doesn't live somewhere fashionably close. You'll have to dump him now.

For me, public transport used to really fuck me off, like, seriously. BUt then I moved to the heart of the city and I walk everywhere now. But, yea used to be 1 bus per hour that may or MAY Not stop, depending on the solar eclipse. Then, like the trains... ew.. I was spending over 3 hours per day on public transport and extra time sitting around WAITING for it, for sometimes a 2 hour lecture. It was tough.

The freaks were varied, but generally I hated people who couldn't keep their personal hygene to themselves. A man WETTING the chair he was on, or a woman clipping her fingernails... ew... .wrong. Because I have a poor man's Ipod - Singing to myself, I used to do that on the train. I freaked out the crazy lady who was talking to her reflection. Lol.

[Kris]

I cannot stand the bus's in my area. I live in one of the bussiest areas for people going into town on an average morning (going to school and work). The bus service thinks they only need to put a little bus on that holds about 30 people. This means its always full by the time it gets to me, and if I get the next bus then Ill be late for my lectures.

Oh and dont get me started on parking costs. I have to pay £9 a day to park in our city centre. I cant afford this three times a week!

[Dark-San]

[b][size=3] Thanks goddess that Singapore is small and hence we would not have to wait like for 2 to 3 hours for a single crowded bus. The average waiting time is like around 20 minutes here and the bus is like half full and hence there would always be seats available.

Transportation system is quite efficient and there is not any problem for me to get to the other side of the island without much hassle. However the transportation fee had risen to a all time high. I would need to spend an extra two to five dollars a month. Blame it on the rising oil prices.

*Edit~ There isn't one single weird people that I have encountered so far except for a couple having some real passionate kiss once. However my friend had related to me once on a weird incident of pickpocketing case. There was this pickpocket that unsuccessfully target a wrong person and got caught in the act. Inside to trying to flee, that dumbass instead chose to engage in an arguement with the victim. Hence resulting in the authorites able to arrive to arrest him. -_-"

[Heald]

You know its a good day when you get a late train home and there isn't someone throwing up in the aisles.

Welcome to the transport system of London and the South-East.

[Myster Myuu]

I live in small town american and you know what that means....

While the wait for the buses/trains is very short IF you know the scedule...

The buses/trains are normally packed AND they're packed to the brim with the escapees from the asylum. I swear, I've never gotten on the bus without seeing atleast 2 of this town's weirdos sitting on there doing something weird.

Worst of the worst is old Mirvin. This guy is legally blind and legally deaf yet he is always walking around town WITHOUT benefit of a blind person's walking cane. I've seen him nearly get himself run over a dozen times and HE always yells and flips off the drivers LMAO. Also, he cant talk right. When he speaks, it all comes out as though he was mumbling VERY LOUD. To get an accurate idea of this, try sticking a sock in your mouth, plugging your nose, then start yelling random stuff. Sadly, he always talks to people like they can hear him crystal clear. He gets right up in your face and mumble-screams with his garlic breath. If you try and ignore him, he starts ranting irritably about the indecency of people these days (I think thats what hes saying, anyways).

But there is a whole slew of weirdos arounf here. Id list them all, but that would take forever. I think old Mel should about sum it up.

[midnightangel]

I kind of like the public bus system...

Since I get off pretty early in the AM, it's usually not hard to catch the bus where I am at. There's one that comes close to my job every hour and drops me off across the street from my house.

And what's nice is the bus only costs $1.00 to ride (but there's talk about raising the prices because of gas), nothing for transfers, and there are discounts for students and the elderly.
In addition, the bus I use goes to the grocery store (Publix), a Super Walmart, and the community college, while the East-West bus goes from the bus station, to the mall, and to the beach and back again.

And the bus company that owns the public transport system also has medical transport buses--the drivers go to a individual's home (or a nursing home, rehab center, etc.) and transports the patient to their doctor's appointment for the same price as the public system.

Beats the heck out of taking taxis everywhere....where some of you use trains, we use taxis. Expensive, nasty-smelling sometimes, and some of the drivers are idiots

[mr_pikachu]

The buses/trains are normally packed AND they're packed to the brim with the escapees from the asylum. I swear, I've never gotten on the bus without seeing atleast 2 of this town's weirdos sitting on there doing something weird.

Worst of the worst is old Mirvin. This guy is legally blind and legally deaf yet he is always walking around town WITHOUT benefit of a blind person's walking cane. I've seen him nearly get himself run over a dozen times and HE always yells and flips off the drivers LMAO. Also, he cant talk right. When he speaks, it all comes out as though he was mumbling VERY LOUD. To get an accurate idea of this, try sticking a sock in your mouth, plugging your nose, then start yelling random stuff. Sadly, he always talks to people like they can hear him crystal clear. He gets right up in your face and mumble-screams with his garlic breath. If you try and ignore him, he starts ranting irritably about the indecency of people these days (I think thats what hes saying, anyways).

But there is a whole slew of weirdos arounf here. Id list them all, but that would take forever. I think old Mel should about sum it up.

Just be glad you get to worry about asylum escapees instead of escaped convicts. You know something's seriously wrong when the road signs on the highway say, "Hitchhikers may be escaping inmates." I mean, do they just expect the criminals to elude the guards? Talk about a lack of confidence in your prison system.

[Little_Pikachu]

I know how that feels, I always seem to get sexually harrassed when I get a bus by myself after about 10pm.

One night I was coming home from a concert, I was on the bus and I could feel something touching me from inbetween the seat and the backrest bit, I just assumed it was someone drunkenly putting their feet up so I kinda ignored it, then the guy behind me tapped me on the shoulder and started talking to me about God knows what, I was trying to ignore him, I don't want to sound like I'm trying to make a stereotype here, but he was Indian too! Then he came and sat next to me and started trying to get me to go to a party with him and he even tried to kiss me. When I got off at my stop he got off too, he followed me and put his arm around me. I just had to shout at him to leave me alone and run. I'm lucky there were quite a few people around that night, I don't want to think about what might have happened if there weren't any random passer by's.

On another occasion I was going home after a night out, they have a late night bus service that runs once an hour so I was on that and there was some random drunk making some pretty obscene comments about my breasts ;\ Fortunatly Simon was still waiting for his bus so I opened the window and told him to come back to my house instead, to which the random asked if he could go too. Once I was with Si the guy was just chatting to us like a normal drunk, when he got off I told Si what had happened and he was pretty pissed off, he doesn't let me get the night bus home on my own anymore.

I have my MP3 player with me for most bus trips now, it just gives off the "I'm not paying any attention to you and I can't hear you" vibe so most morons will leave me alone, I still get the odd random seedy looking guy sitting next to me on a practically empty bus, but what can you do? I'd take taxi's, but the taxi drivers are almost as bad for leering and inappropriate comments, I avoid taking them on my own too.

[Chris]

As a rule, British commuters tend to follow the "pick a point outside the window and stare at it until you get off the vehicle, regardless of any distractions" rule, and as such, we don't get any trouble at peak hours. The late-night intercity bus service, however, is a direct line to getting raped or murdered, depending on your gender. At all other times, public transport is pretty safe to use in the West Midlands (I remember a survey declaring Centro as one of the best transport regulators in the country). But yeah, as soon as 10pm rolls around, it's just as dangerous as everywhere else.

[Heald]

I heard the only way Network Rail is making any money nowadays is selling the CCTV footage they have after 10pm on seedy porn networks.

I never get any trouble but once my sister, who was pregnant at the time, complained to us that some chavs had been harrassing her. I was so pissed off. If I had actually been there, I probably would have stabbed them.

[Jeff]

I've been on the DC metro once and on the Baltimore light rail a couple of times, and to tell you the truth, those few times, I haven't had any problems. Of coure that's probably because I've never taken them after dark. My sister has metioned that some guys were hitting on her when she was in Baltimore once, not sure if it was on the light rail though, and that was during the day. I guess in this area you really have to wait until the sun goes down before the real weirdos start comming out. Luckily, I always take my car everywhere.

[Blademaster]

Dude, public transportation is great, IMO.

Since I first started taking public transportation last September, my life has gotten much better. The bus I take in the morning is a shuttle bus - a peaceful, 15-minute ride that costs only a buck. Then I take the train; I've befriended almost everyone at the station - they're good people. I get to sleep for the 40-minute train ride to and fro (which is where I met some of my best friends, BTW), and when I go home on the normal bus ($1.25 for a 22-minute ride, and while the people on the bus are kinda strange, they haven't ever given me any problems. I go a grand total of about 27 miles a day for only about $10 - way cheaper than a car, I think...

[PancaKe]

I dont mind busses. Most of the time , busses are fine. Occasionally there's some weirdos.
I got in trouble on the bus though, because I was swinging from the things you hold onto if your standing up. The bus driver was like "dont play with those and sit down."
^_^;;

then some lady began crying, telling me about how she lost her wallet in Parramatta. She scared me so much.
When I saw her the next time, I sat right away from her and hid. ^_^

[Drago]

Being a uni student living up in woop woop, I've got to rely on the train system on a nearly daily basis. To that end, I'm pretty pleased that it's a tolerable experience for me. No harrassment or disturbances, but I suppose that's a key advantage of being an ugly male commuter. Freaks don't scare me, I scare them!

Actually I learnt early in the piece that the best way to avoid contact with anyone, weirdo, normal or otherwise, is to have a really pissed off expression on your face, as though being approached would be a dangerous encounter for those game enough. It works especially well on the late trains, because by that point I actually am pretty pissed off.

I can't stand taxis, though. The notion that I can watch my money dwindle away every single second doesn't sit well with me.

[Austrian ViceMaster Alex]

Personally I can only say good things about public transport where I live. The transport system in Vienna is vast, you won't walk for 10 minutes without finding the next bus, tram or subway stop - and that's in the suburbs.

The majority of the buses are clean, comfortable and run on liquid gas. There's no real problem with people either. Barely ever you'll find a drunkard in the bus or tram or someone causing trouble. When it happens it's a once in a year occassion.

The subways, especially around Vienna's center aren't as cool in comparison. First of all the trains are almost 30 years old (getting new ones in the next two years) and you'll see some hobos loitering around here and there in the stations, I've seen one or two sleep in the trains.

I go to work and back home by public transport on a daily basis and honestly I think our transport system is nearly perfect. It just needs some modernization here and there. And it's not surprising that you'll stumble over some "scum" once in a blue moon in a city of 2 million people.

[Gavin Luper]

Oh, you city folk and your modern ways. :biggrin:

I live out in woop woop too, but unlike DragoKnight (I'm guessing you live on the edge of one of the capitals?), I'm on the edge of a large-ish country town. Everyone just ... drives. There's no problem with traffic or anything. And if you're in the general 'CBD' area, you can just walk everywhere, cause it's all so close. We don't have any trains, and only a few buses, but they're rarely used except by half a dozen people. I've never used public transport in my town, put it that way.

Having said all that, on the Gold Coast, we relied so heavily on buses that it wasn't funny ... it was a glimpse of how city people live. Scary.

[Crystal Mew]

Next year I'll probably be taking some busses to college. I dont know how I feel about that yet. haha

They are also building a train station here that will go in that general direction...so once thats built I'll probably take a train to school.

I'll have to have someone I know with me at all times, cause I dont like being by myself in those kind of situations. a lot of weird people out there, ya know!

[en0miz]

As a New Yorker, I've been taking the bus/subway to and from school since like 6th grade til I graduated high school. There's nothing wrong with the transportation system itself (2 dollars can get you across the city, buses and trains usually come on time) but just the people.

Of course we got the homeless people who make the subway car their mobile apartment, the idiots who chirp on their nextel phone with the highest volume possible, high school kids that start fights on the bus which causes the driver to kick *everyone* off , wierd old men that stare at you until you curse them out, people who leave their entire bag of McDonalds and other odd trash in their seat, the drunks (usually starts after 2 in the morning) who get sick on the train/bus, the kids harrassing you to buy candy bars "to keep them out of trouble", the big people who try to sit in the middle seat knowing they can't fit... I could go on and on.

Now I go to college in the middle of nowhere, so there's no sort of transportation... I do appreciate it for what it's worth though.

[Magmar]

I absolutely love the public transport in Rhode Island! Our RIPTA system seriously must be elite, because there's always a bus wherever you are wherever you need to go, pretty much anywhere in the state, and they're almost never crowded. Mind you, Rhode Island IS pretty big. No, that wasn't sarcasm.