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About a decade ago in Zurich we caught a tram which had music, party lights and palm trees in it and I don’t remember what else. It was a party tram, but it wasn’t something you reserved, it was just public transportation and served all the usual stops for the usual fare. Weird, but fun!
Not a matter of fun. It has to be convenient, cost effective, and efficient.
Years ago, I used to fly from Pittsburgh to Washington National Airport (before it became Reagan National Airport) and catch the Metro to my firm's office on Connecticut Ave. Total travel time was under 90 minutes. It was efficient and convenient.
Around the same time I sometimes took the light rail system in Pittsburgh known as the T. I would have to drive to a location where I could park. I would then have to wait up to 10 minutes for the next train. Because I was catching it relatively close to downtown, it would be full and I would have to stand. The light rail system is very slow and makes a lot of stops. It would take 20 minutes to get downtown and I still had a 10 minute walk to get to my office. It would take my about 45 minutes to go about 4 miles, while I could travel by plane and Metro from Pittsburgh to Downtown Washington in under 90 minutes.
I very much miss public transit. It was nice being able to go out after work and have a few drinks and not worry about it. Moreso, it was nice not having to worry about the cost of the car, the maintenance, the insurance and the gas. I truly do miss a non-car existence. Having said that, I love having a little land with a single family home, which I didn't have before. I can see going back to the previous trade-off though. It's hard tp match a good public transport options. Thie thing is though, it has to be GOOD.
I'll use it when I control the vehicle and where it goes, on my schedule. Unless/until that happens, not interested.
Yeah theres been some suggestions that if anyone gets the self driving stuff down pat you could see a city buy a bunch, and let taxpayers just use them like a automated uber. Others have suggested uber could do this in cities. But I too like the independence.
5 trips to Central America, I rode the chicken buses (our old school buses) everywhere, and even riding in the backs of pick-ups with bars to hang on to and long boards built in to sit on. Riding in the back of a pick-up at 60 MPH on a hot day will definitely cool you off.
What's so fun about the so-called Chicken Buses is you don't need to be at a designated bus stop to catch (most frustrating with the regular city bus system) a bus, you just flag one down anywhere, and if you want to get off, just say stop, it could be right in front of your house.
During your journey, vendors hop on and off, selling everything under the sun: vitamins, fried chicken, ice cream, soda pop, pirated DVD's and CD's, candy, you name it. You can get fat riding these buses.
In Central America, if you're middle class, you ride the vans (no thanks!), and the poorer classes ride the chicken buses, the very poorest ride in the back of pick-ups.
Lots of pick-ups on our streets that could be used for public transporatation.
I know, I know, safety/litigation issues in this country would rule out the pick-up rides, and everything has to be handicap accessible. But, the question is, if it were more fun to ride, would you then use it more?
I loved the chicken buses. I would totally ride a US equivalent. Remember the scene in Romancing The Stone where the Colombian chicken bus hits dude's jeep and everyone just gets off and walks away? That's authentic. I've been on chicken buses when they broke down in the middle of the road because, well ... they're $h!tty chicken buses. Everybody just grabs their stuff and walks away.
I don't want fun. Clean and reliable is all it takes.
The LADOT Commuter Express is one of the best-kept secrets in public transportation. Very nice motor coaches run like clockwork from the nice suburbs (beach communities, Palos Verdes etc.) to downtown in the morning, and back in the afternoon.
They're loaded with well-dressed people reading legal briefs, or budgets, or novels - smart people who've exchanged time in traffic with productive or recreative time. Not heading that way any more, but I loved them back when.
The regular buses - that I utilize on the regular now - are kinda crap. The idea that they're filled with the scum of the Earth is utter BS, though. From my experience, it's more salt of the Earth - tired people heading to and from low-paying jobs.
5 trips to Central America, I rode the chicken buses (our old school buses) everywhere, and even riding in the backs of pick-ups with bars to hang on to and long boards built in to sit on. Riding in the back of a pick-up at 60 MPH on a hot day will definitely cool you off.
What's so fun about the so-called Chicken Buses is you don't need to be at a designated bus stop to catch (most frustrating with the regular city bus system) a bus, you just flag one down anywhere, and if you want to get off, just say stop, it could be right in front of your house.
During your journey, vendors hop on and off, selling everything under the sun: vitamins, fried chicken, ice cream, soda pop, pirated DVD's and CD's, candy, you name it. You can get fat riding these buses.
In Central America, if you're middle class, you ride the vans (no thanks!), and the poorer classes ride the chicken buses, the very poorest ride in the back of pick-ups.
Lots of pick-ups on our streets that could be used for public transporatation.
I know, I know, safety/litigation issues in this country would rule out the pick-up rides, and everything has to be handicap accessible. But, the question is, if it were more fun to ride, would you then use it more?
NO! I spent way too many years having to take the bus to school, work, and then back home. Do you have any idea how much time I lost?
And then you have other passengers, with their attitudes, that you have to endure? Or it's ridiculously crowded on a very hot day, and you think you're going to pass out less than 1 block later, yet you have another half an hour on the damn thing?
No. Way!
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