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This mode of transport encourages more interaction with pedestrians, as this YouTube comment demostrates very effectively:
ManeandTailz123 2 months ago 2:49 When the people were making this movie, one of Judy Garland's friends came on set and did not know that they were recording and said "Hi Judy!" You can hear him say it and see Judy react to it!
They left it in, because it added a bit of "real-life" to the performance, I reckon.
This mode of transport encourages more interaction with pedestrians, as this YouTube comment demostrates very effectively:
ManeandTailz123 2 months ago 2:49 When the people were making this movie, one of Judy Garland's friends came on set and did not know that they were recording and said "Hi Judy!" You can hear him say it and see Judy react to it!
They left it in, because it added a bit of "real-life" to the performance, I reckon.
Well I'm not gonna proclaim it was common, but when I was in Chicago I was waiting on the bus, there was this middle aged gentleman waiting and on the other side of me there was a young lady.
I thought she was attractive, initially I was just going to keep quiet, but after waiting a minute I said," are you all from Chicago?" Got responses from both and turned into a conversation, the young lady started talking about how she is from France and is a fashion student, she was wearing her own designs at the moment, I complimented her outfit etc, a little while after we exchanged numbers and a couple days later hung out at the beach.
I believe that very same night again waiting on a bus, I asked the college kids in front of me do they know where such and such bar is, not only did they say they knew where the place was they said they want to tag along with me. It was an open mic night and I wanted to have a little fun, they said if I was any good they'd buy a pitcher of beer all to myself. Now I'm not a heavy drinker, but I could not refuse such a generous offer, nor could I waste the money they spent you know
This mode of transport encourages more interaction with pedestrians, as this YouTube comment demostrates very effectively:
ManeandTailz123 2 months ago 2:49 When the people were making this movie, one of Judy Garland's friends came on set and did not know that they were recording and said "Hi Judy!" You can hear him say it and see Judy react to it!
They left it in, because it added a bit of "real-life" to the performance, I reckon.
thanks to hollywood's early glamourization of rail travel, whether it was steam engine or electric rail, there wasn't much social stigma back then using public transit because people of all economic classes used it. what if today someone like Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt did a service announcement for public transit like Shirley Temple did back then? it might help to improve people's perception of it. people don't see rail travel as romantic or glamorous anymore. Amtrak could probably use an image makeover as well. the snail rail system of North America is pretty antiquated and looks like it came from the Soviet Union so no wonder it has such a poor image.
One of the reasons I drive everywhere is to generally avoid that social interaction. I've ridden transit thousands of times in my life, and very very rarely has any social interaction truly worthy ever come out of it. Not to say none could've ever happened, but it honestly hasn't. I tend to be more introverted especially in public unless I have a reason to speak up or to someone, and I prefer my socializing be done with friends, co-workers, family, etc. I have plenty of exposure for new possible social connections and interactions out in public anyway by simply being out...at the store, supermarket, deli, gas station, shopping plaza, mall....even going to Manhattan and walking around on the rare occasion that I do....and all of that being said, I still prefer my transportation be in the isolation of my car. Especially since I'm still living at home right now while I pay off my student loans, and I'm in a relatively small house with four other people, I hold my car rides, long or short, to be of great value for the total isolation and comfort of being in control.
I tried riding light rail to work at the Jersey City office I was recently working in for a month, and found the crowdedness and whole experience to be unsettling and definitely not prime for socializing. I generally spent most of my time on my iPhone, while everyone else seemed to do the same. And on some trains...ones that weren't quite full with well-to-do commuters, there were some really suspicious, obnoxious and otherwise troubling people riding those trains with me...so while I practice street smarts, it's frustrating to have to worry if some jerk is going to start something because I'm holding a nice shiny piece of technology out. I don't have to worry about that in the car...and NO I don't use my phone in the car for anything except calls via the Bluetooth system...
I have plenty of time at home or anywhere else while I'm not driving to use my phone or my iPad or whatever other thing I'd like to be doing...I don't need to ride a train so I can read a book. Perhaps it was that the light rail took me through a pretty crappy area crime wise, a place I would ordinarily never have to be for anything else, especially with having a car..so yeah, no public transit for me unless it's a commuter express bus to midtown (should I get a reassignment in Manhattan).
thanks to hollywood's early glamourization of rail travel, whether it was steam engine or electric rail, there wasn't much social stigma back then using public transit because people of all economic classes used it. what if today someone like Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt did a service announcement for public transit like Shirley Temple did back then? it might help to improve people's perception of it...
They probably would not do it,
Because it would ruin their "brand" for possible Car Ads.
And intelligent and socially conscious guy like Edward Norton might back street cars or mass transit.
Afterall, he backed the development of the excellent High Line in NYC. But I wonder how many dumbed-down American film goers even know who he is, and would appreciate the values that he inherited from his architecturally prominent family.
On Amtrak or airplanes it seems perfectly socially acceptable to talk whereas most other transport follows the elevator rule. If you talk with anyone, you talk only within your group, and even that is kind of frowned upon as being disruptive depending how animated the conversation is and what it's about (nobody wants to hear about how you got an STD from the loser who isn't paying you child support. Please, just ****). I actually really, really, wish America was more like Asia. You just go in there, listen to your iPod and abide until the suffering ends rather than make it worse by throwing your food all over the place, having loud conversations, blasting your music so loud the entire car/bus can hear it.
Pretty much every longer flight I've ever taken, I've had really interesting conversations. The one time I took Amtrak up to Seattle as well, especially since we ended up stranded for five hours at the Lynnwood TC overnight in an interesting group of two disgruntled social misfits and losers plus the idiot 15 year-old (me) joined by the underage drunkards returning from a night of debauchery in Seattle as the night wore on. Interesting, but not necessarily something I'd want to repeat.
I've found whether or not people strike up conversations on the bus varies by location, local culture, and sometimes even bus route and time of day. People seem to chat more when there's fewer people on the bus, during off peak hours, during longer commutes, on night buses, and in cultures where people are generally more prone to converse with strangers. Judy Garland's video is of course a wildly romanticized and unrealistic depiction of public transit.
And Judy Garland (who, BTW. was a near-perfect symbol of the fantasy of the times, and demonized by the religious social conservatives of her day), came to a very bitter end.
When the realities of the master planners and would be power-brokers who are trying to force their views alone on all of us are brought out into the light, a regression into fantasy sometimes keeps the kiddies and dreamers within the Coalition of Delusion.
I actually really, really, wish America was more like Asia. You just go in there, listen to your iPod and abide until the suffering ends rather than make it worse by throwing your food all over the place, having loud conversations, blasting your music so loud the entire car/bus can hear it.
I agree with this 100%....I would feel much better riding public transit if everyone would just mind their own business, not start trouble with anyone, keep their conversations and music down, stop eating disgusting/smelly foods and spilling crap everywhere and just make it a more pleasant and easy experience for everyone. To me, local transit is just a means to an end...kind of like taking an elevator as you mentioned. Long distance stuff is a little different, but I would prefer my 15 minute jaunt on the Hudson Bergen LR to be as easy, quiet, painless and uneventful as the 30 second ride up in the elevator to my floor at work.....and to be left alone.
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Pretty much every longer flight I've ever taken, I've had really interesting conversations.
Reminds me of my recent trip to Chennai, India over the past summer.... 10 hours from Newark to Brussels, 8 hours from Brussels to Chennai. On the return trip's second flight, I struck up a conversation with the guy next to me who was just as disgruntled and ready to get off the plane as I was (lots of crying children and annoying people on that flight) who had a connecting flight to Detroit. He was mentioning specifically how much he despises the place, and put emphasis on how he was from the SUBURBS of Detroit, and also how his daughter met Eminem once, lol. Interesting conversation....
I've found whether or not people strike up conversations on the bus varies by location, local culture, and sometimes even bus route and time of day. People seem to chat more when there's fewer people on the bus, during off peak hours, during longer commutes, on night buses, and in cultures where people are generally more prone to converse with strangers. Judy Garland's video is of course a wildly romanticized and unrealistic depiction of public transit.
I've found this, too. Denver has a reputation as a somewhat "standoffish" place; people do not generally strike up conversations with strangers anywhere. However, when we were on the Broncos Ride to the Broncos-Ravens playoff game, some people were chatting up everyone. Some of them were drunk, as well, on the way TO the game!
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Originally Posted by HandsUpThumbsDown
I've got a few bus friends. It's nice.
I've noticed a lot of social behavior on pm commuter trains ... Sometimes with drinks!
I can see that (the bus friends), but I doubt the drinks would fly in Colorado. The ski train did have a bar, IIRC, but I think you had to stay in the bar car.
The first point about Garland's life is totally irrelevant.
The second point is just plain wrong.
It is the Car-Addicted ("Car-souls"?) who have forced their living arrangement on the rest of us:
+ Expensive highways, subsidised by an unfair tax system
+ Free parking, forced by zoning regulations
+ Almost no choice, of living without a car
And a few intelligent people, like me, are trying to fight back against a wasteful model enforced by Car-souls like yourself, and you talk about "being forced" !! What childish nonsense.
Instead, you are being ENCOURAGED (rather gently, and not threatened!) to give up your wasteful ways, and redesign your life so you will be able to survive, and maybe even thrive in a coming world of higher oil prices. You talk about others being delusional when you seem to be the King of Delusionists.
+ Expensive transit systems, subsuidized even more than Highways per user by an unfair tax system.
+ Heavily subsidized transit, forced by overbearing Federal and State governments even whereas cities, in every case I am aware, complete free to set parking requirements.
- Almost no choice, of living without a car. Millions of households do it in NYC alone.
+ A few zealots such as yourself trying to force your worldview on everyone, lobbing ad hominem attacks against anyone who doesn't agree with your worldview.
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