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I would take it if it went from where I am to where I need/want to go.
[but it usually does not]
WHICH IS?? maybe new service was added. For example: In las vegas december of last year a new express bus from the airport to the strip and downtown was created. It's first run started december 12th 2010 thus reducing the need for a light rail line that would of helped had that new bus not have been created.
WHICH IS?? maybe new service was added. For example: In las vegas december of last year a new express bus from the airport to the strip and downtown was created. It's first run started december 12th 2010 thus reducing the need for a light rail line that would of helped had that new bus not have been created.
For example, suburb to suburb. Where I live to/from where I work.
I take it just about every day here in Portland. I find it painfully slow and can't understand why the local transit company Trimet, just received the Best Transit system in America Award. I have never had the luxury of thinking "Would I take transit if it were faster". Transit as well as walking has been a part of my life most of my life, even though I have always owned vehicles. I do however feel much of America, has some of the most inefficient bus service in the developed nations. I can understand why some people drive over taking transit but Im not one of them.
The extra time can be planned for when commuting to work. You learn the schedules and adjust your itinerary for the day accordingly. I think the bigger issue for most people is transfers and the combined inefficiency they create in time management. But there are limits to what people will find acceptable. When it takes 90 minutes to get there by public transit and you can drive there in 30, most people are going to drive.
If I were to commute to one of the places I worked at I would have had to make five transfers even though the first link would take me to a transfer point along I-80, and my destination was several blocks from I-80 in another city. Total travel time by transit was around 80 minutes for a distance of 20 miles. It took me 25 minutes in the morning, about 35 in the afternoon.
For awhile I did work at a place where I could take the light-rail. It would have been nice if it weren't for the riff-raff that rides this particular line, playing rap on their ghetto-blasters and general obnoxious behavior, so I started driving again.
For shopping and general errands, not so much. I'm not a big shopper and I hate waiting in lines. So when I do go I buy three times as much of whatever I need so I don't have to make another trip to the store for awhile. For errands, I've just got to the point that if I can't do it over the internet I'll go do business with someone who enables me to do so.
I was using light-rail to and from a community college here. I live a block from a station and the community college has a station, so I used light rail. However, they cut the service back an hour and now it doesn't run late enough for people taking late-evening classes.
Sometimes I'll take it across Downtown Sacramento, but that is rare. I don't mind walking and I'll usually walk to and from anywhere within several miles of where I live.
In Portland, Oregon, we have the MAX Lightrail that travels quickly enough until it enters Portland. Then it pokes and stops way too frequently and it just "drags" through downtown. They also get crammed during rush hours.
But my complaint is that the bus systems don't correlate well enough with the trains. They've cut numerous services. Mass-transit advocates push and push people to leave their cars home; thing is, most of the riders still have to drive their cars to park at the stations. And, let's face it, the trains do NOT service most of the neighborhoods. They are main arteries only. Yet busses are getting treated as less necessary. Stupid.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,550 posts, read 81,117,303 times
Reputation: 57750
The problem here is not the speed, our city has only two buses going down the hills to the next city, requiring at least two transfers to get to Seattle. I can drive to work in 35 minutes, by bus I would still have to drive almost two miles to the nearest bus stop, then a total of two hours
on or waiting for buses.
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