Have You Ever Taken the Bus?
 

I've been thinking about this a lot lately and I realized that sometimes I take the bus but sometimes I walk and still sometimes I drive. What do you do? Is one better than the other? Are buses people? What do you think about buses?

I don't take actual buses a lot, but everyday I take the subway or the streetcar. That's still public like the bus so I guess it counts.

Yes ahahah! When I was in New York, all these old men were checking me out!! Hahah good thing I'm in love with some dude I relentlessly cling to like a life preserver, otherwise I'm sure one of them would have totally confessed their endless love to me!

:love:

I rarely take the bus.

Where's the "never" option?

Historic.

Most every day .......... much less stressful than driving the car and quicker too - bus lanes into the city.

I have actually "taken" a bus before, but that's a tale for another day

Taking a bus is very much like riding a roller-coaster, except that people are screaming into their cell phone.:rolleyes:

Except that when you get off a roller coaster, you're exactly where you were when you got on.

I ride the magic school bus!

Don't leave us hanging like that. I'm allergic to suspense.

This.

I take the bus all the time. It's a good bus and, yes, it is a person.

Sounds like something a person that has only ridden a bus once would say.

I prefer the subway over buses to get around.

They have "quiet zones" on the commuter trains here and if you're sitting in it, you can't make too much noise. It's great for people who are on their way to work or school and are catching up on reading or assignments for the day. And they don't have to hear assh*les yelling into their phones or babies screaming.

I used to take the bus everywhere (strangely, I'd never even used public transit until a couple years ago) but the system here is so unreliable (there's only 3 lines that run to my neighborhood; one ends at 6pm and the other at 9pm - anyone who's ever worked in retail knows that this is an impossibility). Good thing we have a car now (it was getting really tiring having to take two buses every night, the second bus taking me about 2 miles away from my apartment - so I'd have to walk and it'd take quite a while).

Though, now I scream relentlessly at other motorists instead of taking pictures of drunk people on the bus.

This is one area that Portland utterly crushes Seattle, one of the best public transit systems in the US.

Although Seattle is better than some other cities. Sacramento was hands down the worst public transportation of any city I've been to (although that was 30 years ago, maybe it's gotten better). LA is terrible unless you are getting on AND off near the Metro Rail system. Bay Area has excellent public transportation. San Diego is meh. </westcoastbusservice>

You are lucky to have your bus run til 6pm. We have a similar 3 lines system but it is really two. One line just goes across the bridge to the train station. The train that heads down to NYC. The bus stops at 5pm weekdays and 3pm on Saturday. Idk how anyone working retail gets by with this **** system.

I took the short bus to school.

Buses take me places, yeah.

Really? I have to admit I think I have a bit of prejudice against west coast public transportation so I'm surprised to hear that.

I have, no bus rides in Fla are like a zoo on wheels....binoculars are the way to do here...thank god for my car..

The Best U.S. Cities For Public Transit: Portland, Chicago Outrank New York City (PHOTOS)

I really hated the public transit system in Monterey. You'd pay them $2 to go a few miles, then they wouldn't even give you a transfer credit so you'd end up paying another $2 to take another bus to your destination. It just seems like a really unfortunate tourist convenience, and not actually something you'd want to use if you were a resident. They do have a trolley that runs around for free (but doesn't really go to any of the business districts) which is pretty cool, but the transit system itself is designed around tourists and military personnel.

I hear it's easier to get around in Seattle than it is to get around in the suburbs. Personally I'd be traveling from Tukwila to south Renton almost every night, and that was still off the mark from where I needed to be to safely get myself home at 11pm. Shit's just ridiculous. And they're still cutting lines and making revisions and all this other dumb shit. King Country Metro sucks.

It sounds like those lines practically revolve around business people, who probably drive BMWs and Mercedes Benz and don't have any need for the transit system. It's like these people don't even know their customers.

Not surprised about Chicago, since I lived there and loved the CTA, but yeah, Portland is a surprise. I'll be curious to visit and use it some time. Is it a 24/7 system for the major areas?

Actually it kinda stops about 2am.

I didn't read the article but how is it the best if it doesn't run all night?

Because during the time in runs, it's one of the fastest public systems in the US. Typically you only have to wait mere minutes for your bus almost anywhere in the city. The light rail system is particularly good.

That's interesting your buses stop at 5pm. Our system runs from 6 AM until 2 AM and that's subways, buses, and streetcars. So there is only a 4 hour gap when there's no service - people just call taxis in that case.

Toronto is also known as an excellent public transit system

:laughing:

Remember. I live upstate NY. Not NYC where it is pretty much 24/7.

Not really a whole lot to tell. I was young, drunk and stupid and took it upon myself to "borrow" a bus.........Ended up crashing it into a shop verandah

So Toronto doesn't have a good system?

Auckland is reasonable with public transport but I've met many grumpy/rude or speeding bus drivers. I literally spoke to a female bus driver for half an hour, it was really cool!

Our trains are pretty unreliable but they are currently bringing in electric trains. It is a pain because not all buses have the tag on cards. I love taking the train the most. It can be a little scary because they wobble crazily sometimes. But I can usually relax with my music.

It absolutely does, but people here like to complain about it which is why I laughed at the comment!

When you use the system on a regular basis here, you experience the inconveniences like subways and streetcars not working when there's no power (they are electric), or how much a single fare costs ($3)... stuff below the surface.

I have an electronic prepaid fare card so I get a discount.

It doesn't matter how good public systems are, people will always complain.

It sounds a little expensive to use. Over here many politicians are wanting people to stop driving so much and catch public transport to work/study.

The Chch bus service is fairly reliable and I have to add big ups to them for maintaining the service throughout the quakes even after their depot and interchange were totalled........You rarely hear anyone complain about it

Not much good to me for work. The nearest drop off and pick up point to my work is 3 km away........It's only a 6 minute drive by car