Do you use public transport?

[Dr. Gonzo]

3 hours ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

Wait what? 

It's really that bad?

The main rail lines are very limited, there’s not many stations, and very few places have good light rail/trams/trolleys/or anything like the tube. Even things like busses are pretty limited in places like Southern California.

When I moved to America I was first in the Bay Area where public transportation wasn’t that bad and there’s good bus and light rail options. When I moved to San Diego I was first living downtown where the trolley system is decent, but it’s very limited and large sections of the city aren’t connected to it at all and the busses are unreliable… also limited with how they connect.

Now that I don’t live downtown, if I wanted to take public transit to go downtown I’d have to drive 20 minutes to one of their transit hubs, park my car there, then take the trolley for 7 minutes to get downtown. If I wanted to drive downtown it takes between 25-30 minutes. Or I could take a 15 minute drive to the closest train station, then take about 45 minutes taking a train downtown.

[Bluebird Hewitt]

31 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

The main rail lines are very limited, there’s not many stations, and very few places have good light rail/trams/trolleys/or anything like the tube. Even things like busses are pretty limited in places like Southern California.

When I moved to America I was first in the Bay Area where public transportation wasn’t that bad and there’s good bus and light rail options. When I moved to San Diego I was first living downtown where the trolley system is decent, but it’s very limited and large sections of the city aren’t connected to it at all and the busses are unreliable… also limited with how they connect.

Now that I don’t live downtown, if I wanted to take public transit to go downtown I’d have to drive 20 minutes to one of their transit hubs, park my car there, then take the trolley for 7 minutes to get downtown. If I wanted to drive downtown it takes between 25-30 minutes. Or I could take a 15 minute drive to the closest train station, then take about 45 minutes taking a train downtown.

Amazing really that for one of, if not the, richest country in the world, the transport system is that bad.

The part in bold is ridiculous really. Might as well drive the whole way by that point, unless parking prices are ridiculous and/or spaces are difficult to find.

[Dr. Gonzo]

43 minutes ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

Amazing really that for one of, if not the, richest country in the world, the transport system is that bad.

The part in bold is ridiculous really. Might as well drive the whole way by that point, unless parking prices are ridiculous and/or spaces are difficult to find.

Yeah now that I don’t live downtown I don’t have a parking spot & free parking downtown is incredibly difficult to find and otherwise it’s pretty expensive. I still think more people here would drive downtown than take the trolley though because a lot of people look down on public transit here. The trolley isn’t too bad though, relatively clean for the most part. Occasionally there’s a methhead doing methhead things though, so I can understand people with children being weary of it.

The shit public transportation is probably why the US has the highest emissions in the world per capita though and really the federal government should be investing to completely overhaul the infrastructure of it.

[Beelzebub]

According to town planners and transport engineers train/rail travel requires the most hardwork and intricate details because you need to connect two points like those puzzle games. You can't just lay a track like a road. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

26 minutes ago, Beelzebub said:

According to town planners and transport engineers train/rail travel requires the most hardwork and intricate details because you need to connect two points like those puzzle games. You can't just lay a track like a road. 

It's weird in places like San Diego and Los Angeles where there was a large rail system in place at some point a long time ago, but a lot of those were removed when the cities were re-planned due to the huge popoulation growth. The modern versions of these cities were planned with widespread car ownership in mind. Sometimes roads/highways were built over where the existing rail lines were.

To San Diego's credit, they did expand their trolley system quiet a bit recently to make it more useful and accessible to large parts of the city - they had the new trolley line built alongside what I'm pretty sure is the most used freeway in the city (and possibly the state). For larger rail lines, like actual trains, I think it's definitely a bit tougher. California was supposed to have a high speed rail system put in running from Los Angeles to San Francisco, but as far as I know a lot of money has been spent to not actually do anything.

[Coma]

On 28/07/2023 at 07:34, Bluebird Hewitt said:

Wait what? 

It's really that bad?

Yes, because there is no such train. Only the super metro areas like Chicago, LA, NY have trains.

[Spike]

10 minutes ago, Coma said:

Yes, because there is no such train. Only the super metro areas like Chicago, LA, NY have trains.

Chicago is a metro of over ten million and has eight lines… and all of them go to the same location, the loop.

[Spike]

23 hours ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

Amazing really that for one of, if not the, richest country in the world, the transport system is that bad.

The part in bold is ridiculous really. Might as well drive the whole way by that point, unless parking prices are ridiculous and/or spaces are difficult to find.

It is because car manufacturers lobbied against it, which in turn allowed real estate developers to create the never ending suburban sprawl. There has been attempts for nearly a hundred years to develop the train lines in California @Dr. Gonzo but they are literally tied up with hundreds of lawsuits preventing any sort of developement.

[Spike]

Granted London is bigger but look at the difference. That blue line that runs from Forest Park takes over two hours by train.

 

 

[Redcanuck]

23 hours ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

Amazing really that for one of, if not the, richest country in the world, the transport system is that bad.

The part in bold is ridiculous really. Might as well drive the whole way by that point, unless parking prices are ridiculous and/or spaces are difficult to find.

Canada is much the same.  There is adequate public transit in Hamilton where I live if you live downtown, but its its a bit dodgy after 7 or 8 o'clock at night in the downtown core.   It's fine if you are going downtown, but if you want to go to the east or west end of the city you have to take another bus. Connections are hit or miss, sometimes I can get to the university in under 40 minutes , other times it's almost 90 minutes. If you have meetings or classes to get to, the bus isn't dependable.  If I drive I am there in about 15 minutes.

There is no public transportation if you live outside the big urban centres. We used to live about 15, 20 minutes south of the city and there was no public transportation and there still isn't.  You need a car to get around most places in North America. The section of the city I live, taking the bus to go for groceries,  medical appointments or visit friends and family isn't worth the effort and the time it takes to use public transit.

 

 

 

Edited July 29, 2023 by Redcanuck

[Bluebird Hewitt]

2 hours ago, Spike said:

It is because car manufacturers lobbied against it, which in turn allowed real estate developers to create the never ending suburban sprawl. There has been attempts for nearly a hundred years to develop the train lines in California @Dr. Gonzo but they are literally tied up with hundreds of lawsuits preventing any sort of development.

For another topic, but it's insane that things like car manufacturers and the NRA have that much power to dictate what the US Government and States can and can't do. Not saying they're unique in the world, but that's how it seems to appear from the outside.

1 hour ago, Redcanuck said:

Canada is much the same.  There is adequate public transit in Hamilton where I live if you live downtown, but its its a bit dodgy after 7 or 8 o'clock at night in the downtown core.   It's fine if you are going downtown, but if you want to go to the east or west end of the city you have to take another bus. Connections are hit or miss, sometimes I can get to the university in under 40 minutes , other times it's almost 90 minutes. If you have meetings or classes to get to, the bus isn't dependable.  If I drive I am there in about 15 minutes.

There is no public transportation if you live outside the big urban centres. We used to live about 15, 20 minutes south of the city and there was no public transportation and there still isn't.  You need a car to get around most places in North America. The section of the city I live, taking the bus to go for groceries,  medical appointments or visit friends and family isn't worth the effort and the time it takes to use public transit.

The part in bold is similar to what I hear at times where I am, albeit more due to how busy it is.

During the 'rush hours' of people getting to work and our train line only putting on two coaches, they tend to be rammed to the point of that they don't stop at stations later on the line, so people miss the train they were there for.

Something I forgot to mention earlier. We're currently in the process of creating a South Wales Metro that stretches from Swansea to Newport and surrounding valley areas. I admittedly don't have a lot of hope that this'll be as good as on paper, but could be tempted to use it more if it works as intended.

[Whiskey]

Nope, I have a car.

[Coma]

20 hours ago, Spike said:

Chicago is a metro of over ten million and has eight lines… and all of them go to the same location, the loop.

Yeah after I posted that I remembered you saying how the trains there suck. I've never used them. 

[CaaC (John)+]

Funny enough they bought the trams back here in Edinburgh about 8 years ago and now have just laid tracks here in Leith, the trams run all the way to Edinburgh Airport, but me and the wife have never used them, the last trams we were on were in Dortmund, Germany in my army days, 1972.