America's stigma of riding buses. (Atlanta, Boston: house, neighborhood, high income)

[cqholt]

This article Race, Class, and the Stigma of Riding the Bus in America - Commute - The Atlantic Cities perfect portraits why more buses instead of LRT or HRT will not work in attracting middle to high income earners.

When Atlanta launched its Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) system in the 1970s, some hissed that the acronym stood for "Moving Africans Rapidly Through Atlanta."

Some white people feel too good to ride a bus and this is why transportation planners build streetcars and LRT instead of more buses, that and buses get caught in traffic congestion unless it has its own lane, then its a BRT. Middle to high income earners will ride rail-based transit.

[StAubin]

I'm white and middle class and I ride marta buses all the time. Frankly, I'm kind of annoyed by the attitude many people have towards buses. If you don't want to ride a bus due to frequency or speed, I get it. If you don't want to ride a bus because its a bus, I have no respect for you.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by StAubin

I'm white and middle class and I ride marta buses all the time. Frankly, I'm kind of annoyed by the attitude many people have towards buses. If you don't want to ride a bus due to frequency or speed, I get it. If you don't want to ride a bus because its a bus, I have no respect for you.

I'm in that boat too. My wife and I ride MARTA bus from the house to the station everyday. Gotten to know the bus driver and the other riders. Its not bad at all, but when I tell people at work I ride the bus they give me this disgusting look. Oh well all of them live in the suburbs anyways and don't know the easy living of using mass transit.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by cqholt

This article Race, Class, and the Stigma of Riding the Bus in America - Commute - The Atlantic Cities perfect portraits why more buses instead of LRT or HRT will not work in attracting middle to high income earners. Some white people feel too good to ride a bus and this is why transportation planners build streetcars and LRT instead of more buses, that and buses get caught in traffic congestion unless it has its own lane, then its a BRT. Middle to high income earners will ride rail-based transit.

I think the anti-bus thing is relatively new. A few generations ago whites road the bus all the time.

[cqholt]

I think the anti-bus thing is relatively new. A few generations ago whites road the bus all the time.

Before segregation and white flight. Those that had the means to escape segregation did and bought cars to commute to the city. I think this is when the tide turned, but I wonder if older, northern urban centers; NYC, Boston, Chicago have the same thought. Or is it a Sunbelt city stigma?

[StAubin]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Before segregation and white flight. Those that had the means to escape segregation did and bought cars to commute to the city. I think this is when the tide turned, but I wonder if older, northern urban centers; NYC, Boston, Chicago have the same thought. Or is it a Sunbelt city stigma?

To some degree they do. I was in chicago earlier in June and i rode the busses there and they are AMAZING. I like marta, but CTA's service leval was on another leval. One bus that stood out to me, not just because of its service but because of its diversity, was the #2 express bus from Hyde Park to downtown. Hyde Park is, as a family member described to me "the only true intergrated middle to upper class neighborhood in Chicago" and the demographics of the bus showed.

P.S. Obama and Muhammed Ali live in Hyde Park.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Before segregation and white flight. Those that had the means to escape segregation did and bought cars to commute to the city. I think this is when the tide turned, but I wonder if older, northern urban centers; NYC, Boston, Chicago have the same thought. Or is it a Sunbelt city stigma?

Whites commonly rode the bus both during segregation -- think Rosa Parks-- and afterwards. Take a look at a photo of Atlanta during the 1960s and 70s and you'll see tons of white riders.

I think the decline had more to do with the population (first whites and now blacks) moving to suburbs where there wasn't much bus service. For a while you were left with poverty concentrated intown and that led to the perception that bus riding was for the poor. Now, of course, poverty is being dispersed all over the metro area so perhaps some of that class stigma will die off.

[Iconographer]

My problem with buses in this city is that I don't see an advantage to them. They are subject to the whims of traffic flow, just like cars. It's why I am an advocate for rail.

[cqholt]

My problem with buses in this city is that I don't see an advantage to them. They are subject to the whims of traffic flow, just like cars. It's why I am an advocate for rail.

Not if buses where given a dedicated lane and turned into BRT.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Not if buses where given a dedicated lane and turned into BRT.

True...but let's not hold our breath.