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It seems that a lot of cities do have an association of public transit use with low-income people or people who don't own a car not "out of choice".
There are a few cities though where public transit use seems like it's "mainstream" and "used by most, rich or poor". Examples include NYC obviously, San Francisco's area with the BART, and some Canadian cities like Toronto. Of course then there are the Old World cities, though I've never been.
On the other hand there are many cities where there seems more stigma associated with taking the bus (for example, in LA).
Which cities or areas associate public transit users with poverty/low income and in which areas, are they seen as "mainstream, used by both rich and poor"?
I think generally there's also differences between types of public transportation; when we lived in LA I knew plenty of middle and even upper-class people who were happy to get on a train or subway, but I doubt most of them took the bus. I didn't have a chance to read most of this thread yet, but see that others have said the same thing of their cities. In Minneapolis, where there's only limited trains (and I'm guessing in other similar cities), I think the difference comes in type of buses. Taking the bus to commute to your downtown job (or to got a sports game, perhaps)? Totally normal and mainstream. Taking the bus to run errands or go to the grocery store? Not necessarily stigmatized, but a bit more unusual, and it's almost always assumed that middle-class parents with kids will always be driving. Then again, I think that's true of almost all cities outside of NYC.
Come to Baltimore, ride the Metro and the buses. You will mostly see working stiffs and the underclass. Then go 40 miles further south to Washington, D.C. and do the same. A wide variety of users, including lobbyists.
I like Jarrett's conclusion--it is similar to my own conclusion when I rode the bus in Los Angeles last year--I looked around, realized I was the only white person on the bus except for a transvestite. I thought "Cool." to myself and went back to checking out the architecture.
Basically, if the only way to get whitey back on the bus is to ensure that all the other passengers are white, just give up now because it isn't happening and it's a fool's errand. It is a bit like the old school of thought that if we just dress up downtowns like suburban malls whitey will come back, but that doesn't work either. It misses the point that diversity is a desirable function of cities--and that the suburbs are hardly lily-white these days anyhow.
I like Jarrett's conclusion--it is similar to my own conclusion when I rode the bus in Los Angeles last year--I looked around, realized I was the only white person on the bus except for a transvestite. I thought "Cool." to myself and went back to checking out the architecture.
Basically, if the only way to get whitey back on the bus is to ensure that all the other passengers are white, just give up now because it isn't happening and it's a fool's errand. It is a bit like the old school of thought that if we just dress up downtowns like suburban malls whitey will come back, but that doesn't work either. It misses the point that diversity is a desirable function of cities--and that the suburbs are hardly lily-white these days anyhow.
A lot of times when there are other white people on board, they are European / Australian tourists - they have no hang-ups about riding the bus. I think the problem is with people and not the systems themselves. It seems like Metro in LA is running a good marketing campaign and has piqued interest in some new transit riders... But then again, there are always going to be people that say "you can't spell public transit without 'ICK'".
And those are the people who aren't worth trying to reach. Marketing to people who think your product is disgusting is a waste of effort--if you're selling meat, don't market to vegetarians. They won't like you any better.
A friend of mine lives in la, doesn't drive and has no license. She takes the bus to work and comments on how she is the only "creative class" or "professional worker" on the bus. Her coworkers think she is crazy but her company did change the policy on transportation subsidies to include bus passes and not just parking.
A friend of mine lives in la, doesn't drive and has no license. She takes the bus to work and comments on how she is the only "creative class" or "professional worker" on the bus. Her coworkers think she is crazy but her company did change the policy on transportation subsidies to include bus passes and not just parking.
I see "creative class" often but "professionals" less. I don't use the public transportation much (just walk for everything) - the last time I was on a bus was for a job interview, I actually wasn't the only person on the bus (210 along Fairfax Ave).
Having moved here in the past year, I nominate Dayton, which has a justifiable stigma attached to it's bus system. There's an excellent Chinese restaurant that I only visited twice because it's too close to the main RTA hub downtown, and it's crowded with homeless, beggars, and gangbangers with their pants around their ankles and baseball caps on backwards. Not good. The bus stops themselves scattered throughout the city are little better - guarantee there's a couple of loud punks at each one, haranguing passerby.
It's bad enough that Beavercreek refused to allow bus stops within their city limits (and then consequently got sued for it):
My experience with Cincinnati's Metro was a bit more mixed - certainly quite a few professionals on board, especially at rush hour, but otherwise filled with the same trouble-making riff raff. TANK, in Northern KY, was pretty good, comparatively speaking, but you still get your share of characters.
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