Do people enjoy riding public transit?

[Knower of nothing]

It'll depend a lot on the infrastructure of where you live. If it's america, chances are the public transit is bad to mediocre and non-car options are completely neglected.
Over here people would consider going on foot or with a bike first (this gets you anywhere in town within 20 minutes). If it's beyond town then the train is the next option, some take their bikes on the train. If it's in the city choosing a car is just not smart because of how much more efficient all the other options are. And so on and so forth. Cars are best for the peace and to transport a bunch of stuff like groceries, but they lose in the aspect of just going somewhere.

 

[Forest Cat]

I love driving!

I very much enjoy driving too. It's relaxing and nice. It's like sitting in your own little room that moves around. You have music and food and everything. Sometimes it's nice to just cruise around and enjoy the scenery. Other times it's fun to go sideways at 100 mph in a cloud of tire smoke. Sometimes we make race tracks on frozen rivers and lakes here in the winter, that's awesome. Give me a nice car with a stick shift and I'm happy. Preferably something American, like a sturdy Ford.

 

[Bolletje]

Jeez, didn’t mean for my reply in this thread to sound so blunt!

I have had very scary experiences on public transportation and that’s why I reacted like that. The buses and trains in the cities here are not that safe. People are often robbed or get in fights. I have had drunk aggressive people make me really uncomfortable, or been approached by middle aged men who definitely didn’t have good intentions.

So I prefer to drive because public transportation makes me really nervous.
Obviously driving makes me nervous too though, because getting pulled over could pose a very real danger to me.

Didn’t seem that blunt to me tbh. Just very clear about your feelings re: public transport

 

[NDR2]

I take the subway and bus all the time and I’m used to it. I know it poses less havoc on the environment than lots of cars, so I’m certainly for that. I’ve never really had the desire to learn how to drive, and I’m even afraid to (particularly the way I drive a go cart).

I’ll admit the subway trains are quite loud when they move. I usually cover my ears as they pass by.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

I rode the LA busses a bit because you see the local flavor, however woman were followed off busses and robbed or raped or both. So this was worrisome. I also met a older lady in my complex that met a younger couple on the bus, they followed her to her apartment unbeknownst to her. Asked for water, once inside they robbed her after knocking her out. So my riding public transit is no longer at the top of ways to get places.

Damn! You do not want to know my view of such predators. How can we not recognize that this society is degenerate when women have to be afraid of their safety in public. What goes on in the minds of the people who act that way or make unwanted advances?

I am even worried by the normalization of conservative hatred that people feel free to express in public. How can we not feel that our society is dissolving?

 

[Judge]

I've witnessed violence both inside and outside San Francisco Bay Area "BART" cars before. Luckily I wasn't around when BART cops used lethal force on suspects. However the police themselves were almost never actually onboard a car at any given time.

Conversely in taking public transportation in Philadelphia PA, I recall being with a local who was very picky about the car they sought to board. The one with two enormously-sized SEPTA transit cops!

 

[AprilR]

I don't enjoy suffering so no

 

[Judge]

Give me a nice car with a stick shift and I'm happy. Preferably something American, like a sturdy Ford.

Sadly manual transmission vehicles in the US are increasingly difficult to find or buy new.

I too enjoy driving rather than to depend on public transportation anywhere, always with a stick shift. I still recall how difficult it was to find a manual transmission car when looking for one in 2017. It was awful, and came as a bit of a shock after 17 years of driving a manual six-speed Toyota Celica GTS.

 

[androidysphoria]

personally i like riding trains a lot. however, the light rail in my city is really new & clean, so i think that is a large factor. i like public transport but it also tends to make me dizzy. So I don’t & can’t ride busses.

 

[D'Andre]

I can’t drive because I get overwhelmed by all the stimuli, so I walk, cycle or use public transport. Buses are fine for me for short distances. Public transport buses here don’t have bathrooms though. Since I have IBS, that’s not a good combo. I’ve once had to beg a bus driver to pull over so I could have a particularly violent roadside bowel movement with half the bus as an audience. Not a great look, especially since there were coworkers on board too.

I prefer taking the train because there’s bathrooms in there. They’re usually dirty and smelly and out of toilet paper, but knowing I have safety options helps. I try to avoid long train rides and traveling at rush hour. My country often has trains packed full of people, especially during rush hour. And due to chronic staff shortages and technical issues, trains are often not riding on parts of their trajectory. But when all the stars align, public transport is fine

same reason i don't drive. i took lessons and knowing the guy had a break or was able to take over was fine, but when i got on a regular street and all that stuff is going on around me, i said "no way"

 

[D'Andre]

because of the over-sensory and just the horror of having a deadly weapon at my fingertips, i prefer public transit. it's "usually" dependable, especially the trolley and train. i think the trolley can regulate speed in order to get to his destination right on time so that really cool to me. the downside is sometimes i have to walk a long way to get to a bus stop and I experience so many unstable and often unsanitary people. crazy is not good but the filthiness is what really bothers me. and taking it at night is rather spooky. it saves a lot of money and you don't really have pressure to socialize. i think being courteous is important though. I used to take the train up north to work at a studio and i loved taking the train.

 

[Aspychata]

personally i like riding trains a lot. however, the light rail in my city is really new & clean, so i think that is a large factor. i like public transport but it also tends to make me dizzy. So I don’t & can’t ride busses.

Good point, subways kinda of make me dizzy. They start up really fast, and then they way they slow down fast just is unsettling. I have several weird things happen on busses. And the last incident, the female bus driver said nothing to the psychotic male who was on a scream rant directed to me. When the bus driver didn't do anything, l went up and stood by her, since that was about my only option. This happened in LA.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

same reason i don't drive. i took lessons and knowing the guy had a break or was able to take over was fine, but when i got on a regular street and all that stuff is going on around me, i said "no way"

Imagine piloting a motorcycle. The concentration is sometimes intense and you need to treat car drivers like they are out to kill you. My rides; Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic LT, Kawasaki Concours 14. I used to ride to work every day that I could, and I always wore protective gear. I had a great pair of chaps from fox creek leather, and the way they are cut they frame your butt. Walking up the stairs one day there were two women behind me and I hear "My, my, what a nice view" (the stairs are windowless). That sorta' made my day.

 

[D'Andre]

Good point, subways kinda of make me dizzy. They start up really fast, and then they way they slow down fast just is unsettling. I have several weird things happen on busses. And the last incident, the female bus driver said nothing to the psychotic male who was on a scream rant directed to me. When the bus driver didn't do anything, l went up and stood by her, since that was about my only option. This happened in LA.

Wow that's awful.

 

[D'Andre]

Imagine piloting a motorcycle. The concentration is sometimes intense and you need to treat car drivers like they are out to kill you. My rides; Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic LT, Kawasaki Concours 14. I used to ride to work every day that I could, and I always wore protective gear. I had a great pair of chaps from fox creek leather, and the way they are cut they frame your butt. Walking up the stairs one day there were two women behind me and I hear "My, my, what a nice view" (the stairs are windowless). That sorta' made my day.

Love that!

 

[Storm Hess]

I have never used public transit due to learning schedules, timing, and being
confined in an area with people all around. Social anxiety, yes.

Driving also gives me anxiety. It also gives freedom and no crowds.
I would not like someone in the car with me either except for a close household
member.

I also drive very cautiously because I do not want confrontation with being
pulled over due to disability reasons that could create problems.
No easy way out.
A chauffeur? If I had that kind of money.

When I'm driving, I have no issues...because I'm in control. I'm very good at driving because I hyerfocus...I'm a horrible passenger because I hyperfocus on the person driving and the traffic around me...so I panic easy. It's even worse when there's others in the car.

 

[Zhantera]

oh heck no. I avoid it at all costs. I used to walk an hour each way, every day to work, and I'd get passed by at least 4 buses. I can't drive and never will, but any type of transit scares the crap out of me. I feel safer on my own two feet.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Although I am so glad for its existence, I really despise it.

There are many times, very frightening people on board, in various states of intoxication and/or psychosis, yelling and sneering and dropping trash. I've been threatened to be shot on a bus just recently. They don't get kicked off, and unlike everyone else, they don't have to pay to get on. It's awful.

I wish I had a car so I could leave the city limits, or just be in a private place, playing music, and exploring the streets. There are people I'd like to visit, and I'm not very physically mobile, so it would be very handy.

However, you can't beat the fact that you can go wherever you want all day with a $2.50 day pass. And dial a ride is pretty sweet too.

The streetcar runs nearby. It's sort of like a modern trolley service. It zips around my neighborhood, and into other neighborhoods. I really love it. But once again, there's those scary homeless people that ruin many trips.

Mass transit is a sensory experience: The sights! The sounds! The smells! The textures! ..and if someone is really stinky, you can even taste it on the air!

Just recently I had the money to buy a car, and I was very excited, but my daughter needed it more for college tuition, so I deposited it in her savings account. I was just thinking about my ideal car the other day with a friend, and we came up with a great idea. I hope someday soon it comes to fruition.

 

[Gerontius]

If public transport is a chore, then it really isn't doing its job.

I really would like to see public transport (streetcars/trolleys, a reliable interurban train service (light rail), functional heavyweight passenger trains,) all that come back. I like bicycling and I don't like the world of morons in BMW's out acting like they're trying to kill me. Also, though I have a car, I don't like paying through the nose to fuel the thing, or having to buy batteries, or any of that.
For a long time I was actively searching for a functional Ford Model-T touring car. They are small, lightweight, pretty fast as far as urban driving goes (anything below 35mph you have plenty of power). They are the minimalist concept of the automobile--and they look much better after 1916; get the late ones without all the brass trim. They look utterly nondescript, not a lot to that.

The old vehicle I found that was the perfect compromise was a Raleigh DL-1 roadster bicycle, designed 1913 and produced until 1985. The same design was built by a number of companies years ago & became the most produced vehicle in the world. z

Picture of mine parked near some modern electric bicycles. I would rather have the Raleigh--it looks odd but it also doesn't seem to draw the angry reaction that a modern bicycle does.

Now our streets are garbage in America (it's garbage if it's unsafe for everyone to use, no matter how they choose to travel) and won't be OK until we get more automobiles off them. That will make it easier for remaining motorists to enjoy driving, will make transport cheaper & safer (if the car is a luxury instead of a necessity) and will improve everyone's quality of life.

Roads where you can use a bicycle are how I know if somewhere is civilized, or if it's car-dominated. I really am getting to the point I do not like cars that much. And yes I have worked in the auto industry.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

That is a nice Raleigh. Lucky for me the backroads where I live are used by bicycle aware drivers, but I still try to be quite visible. e-bike use puzzles me. I enjoy the physicality of cycling but see people half my age using them, and I wonder why? Especially on trails with less than a 3% grade. Here is a pic of me on my ICE Sprint on a local road during a beautiful fall day. Tadpole recumbent trikes are getting increasingly popular here. Because of its footprint I think it is easily noticed. Below mine is my spouse on the long, shallow, climb home. She is determined not to get e-assist until she is 80.