As a European, I absolutely love public transit. But I’m not gonna lie, I’d never even approach an American subway station. That shit looks, and to some degree functions, like medieval dungeons.
The biggest risk on public transit is, of course, the cars.
It’s just that the American infrastructure is so far behind. The subway trains are so old, dirty and rundown. Not to mention graffiti everywhere. Much of the NYC Subway system, specifically track switches and signals, is still manually operated, as it still relies on the 100-year-old technology.
Most busses are still combustion engine instead of electric like most of the western world.
The US train infrastructure is an embarrassment. What China build in 20 years in high speed train is insane. The US or in this case California agreed in the same year 2008 to start om a high speed rail network. The 725 miles of track will maybe completed by 2033. In the meantime China build over 15000 km of high speed railway track. The comfort on the trains can’t even compare to air travel. Most Chinese prefer train over air.
The NYC subway system is impressive, in a way. Imagine a system that has been brutally underfunded for an entire century and basically frozen in time with barely any extension since then. Yet they still manage to keep it running and (mostly) functioning. It doesn’t surprise me that much of it relies on 100 year old technology. The money isn’t even enough for maintaining everything, let alone, massive improvements. And yes, it is an embarrassment. There are other subway networks in the world that have a similarly long history and don’t feel even remotely as neglected.
Comparing China might be a bit unfair with their wages and … efficient way of handling property, environmental and other laws but there is no need to. Just have a look at Spain for example. They started 34 years ago with their first line. It is also interesting because they built the HSR in a gauge that is incompatible with the rest of the national rail network.
You hit the nail on the head. Things get done in China. In my birth country, Netherlands, it is a drama with environmental concerns, paperwork, licenses, animals etc.
For example Netherlands introduced toll for trucks to move them to electric. But to install a charger at the trucking company, it will take upto 7 years!! That is totally insane. And since there is a change of government every 4 years or 2 years currently, everything changes again.
At least all the investment in infrastructure in China benefits its citizens. Unlike investing more in the military industrial complex.
Don’t you think having clean, reliable, innovative transport should be prioritized? How can you be proud of a 100 year old system that is crumbling and no notion of any investment. Maybe now NYC has a ‘socialist’ mayor, things will improve. But to catch up will take a long time.
Another part of this is the disruptive people are more visible on public transport. On a bus you can see two people arguing loudly and feel unsafe from it, whereas on the road those same two people could be arguing just as much and you’d never notice it in your bubble.
The people arguing in the car are more dangerous though because:
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One of them may be driving while operating a vehicle is not the biggest thing on their mind.
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You can’t see that they may be dangerous and move away from them because you don’t know what’s happening
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I like public transit, but I’ve never had a crazy person try to sit on me in my car either.
I’ve had a crazy person trying to prevent me from taking an exit.
hah, I’m reading this headline like “I’ve never accidently sat in a puddle of someone else’s piss in my car though so there’s that.”
lol this is the issue. It’s objectively not dangerous (or at least not more so than driving) but there are certainly some very uncomfortable situations that can happen. And I think a lot of people can’t really tell the difference between “this is an incredibly weird and uncomfortable social interaction” and “my life is in danger”.
If you’re female they could be both
The stats say otherwise.
you sat in a puddle of HIV infected semen.
you moved to another seat and sat down on a used syringe.
where’s the danger in that? /s
I’m far less likely to die on the light rail than my car. But I’m also far less likely to have some guy jacking off in the seat next to me, a homeless guy passed out who pissed himself, or a heroine zombie hanging out in another plane of existence who ends up getting the train delayed by 30m while medics narcan her.
The likelihood of dying on my commute is small. The illnesses and mental gymnastics that go on in the US light rail / subway are pretty nasty and nearly guaranteed on a regular basis.
And just for reference, I did light rail from home to work for several months. All of that happened, PLUS the train hit a car twice, (they keep you on board until the cops show up 45m each time) and one time they lost power and had to do a bus bridge, bringing my 27 mile commute to 3 hours.
You can do public transport better, we just do not.
Absolutely true. My city had a very violent incident occur a couple years ago on the bus, and it is still brought up now as to why busses are unsafe. Meanwhile you can ask any of these people how many people died this week on the highways/driving and they have no idea. Busses feel unsafe because of personal perceptions, while driving feels safer because it’s what you’re used to. Feelings though are not facts.
People don’t like giving up control. But the fact of the matter is that giving up control of a vehicle to a professional who drives for a living is way safer than doing it yourself. (I have family who refuse to fly and I’ve had this conversation before.)
Yep have a family member like that. They think it’s safer. I’ve also seen them drive while using a cell phone and have argued with me that “its cool man I only had a couple in fine to drive”
Just like roller coasters. They seem dangerous because the 3-4 deaths a year are covered with a wild amount of attention.
I wish I could take a roller coaster to work.
That’s just a train isn’t it?
Yes, but more thrilling!
Try the M2 metro in Lausanne, it’s steep enough to basically be a roller coaster haha
Same with air travel. No matter how you slice the statistics air travel is so much safer than pretty much anything else. Only trains are close.
Yet an unsignificant percentage of people have a fear of flying, but almost no one has a fear of driving/passenger.
Different kinds of danger. It’s the same reason why a shark feels more threatening than your steering wheel or a bottle of beer; our brains are not good at recognising abstract threats. If you see a disorderly drunk guy one time on the train and felt threatened, your amygdala will remember that literally forever
When I see a drunk driver not able to hold a lane I feel threatened and I remember that literally forever… It must be down to mediacoverage, ads etc, because also while driving on the roads you see fucking dangerous shit all the time
that only tells me that most people haven’t evolved past primal instincts, and again is feelings. It feels dangerous, but it’s not.
Safety is not a concern in my area. The issue is that it takes two to three hours to get just about anywhere that is not a hub, and a high probability of not being able to return to the starting point until the next day.
Where I live I literally would not be able to take public transport to get to my current job, or my current school (both an hour drive away in different counties from where I live, public transport doesn’t cross county lines). I looked into taking public transport to get to my last school when my car broke down, but it would have been about a 5 hour one way trip involving 3 different buses and a 3 mile walk between one of the bus lines in order to go 16 miles (I couldn’t have walked or biked it because it’s all major highways and said highway crosses a river with no pedestrian crossing - that’s miles out of the way). I got a rental car instead.
I took public transit to nyc because I dont want to deal with having a car with me, but I honestly regret it. The only bus back home is at 730am, with a 1 hour train ride to the station (so I need to wake up at 6am to be safe). I need to take another train home, which only runs every 2 hours, an I need to wait an hour. The ride itself is another hour. 8 hours for a trip I could have make in 4 hours, and for nearly half as much in gas compared to fares
The bus fare is fast too, most of the other options habe multiple changes that extend the 4:30 by HOURS. It could take me 10 hours of public transit
I fucking HATEEEE layovers, and changes. Routes and lines that are only ran every couple hours, so EVERY step can easily add an hour or more to a journey
Double the cost of your fuel to get the real cost of running a vehicle.
People watch too much TV. I’ve lived in several major cities on multiple continents and a car free for longer than 20 years. I’ve never once felt unsafe on any train, bus, or subway. Flying is far scarier.
Flying on a major airline is exceptionally safe. Regional airlines are quite a bit sketchier, and…vote for me for fascist diaper dictator in 2028 and I’ll put a stop to this: Some Fuck LLC will get a contract from one of the majors and start operating their fleet of Beech 1900s or something painted with “Delta Connection” or similar livery while training crews and maintaining aircraft to nowhere near the standard of the brand on the side of the plane.
people way ignore how dangerous driving is. she thinks public transit is dangerous and nothing has ever happened to her in relation to it yet she has been in several auto accidents through her life.
I’ve never ever heard anyone say this.
I’ve seen it in TV shows.
Millions of people take mass transit every day. I did for years in different cities.
I’ve seen some crazy stuff, but that’s rare.
I’ve had to put way too much energy into convincing Boomer relatives that it’s completely normal to take public transit here in Seattle. It’s (relatively) safe, clean, convenient, and full of other “normal” (which is to say not visibly experiencing some sort of mental health crisis, harassing other riders, etc) people.
Still haven’t gotten my dad on the light rail. The next time he comes, I’m just going to not pick him up from the airport. It’s quicker to take the train!
Pick him up with the train?
Some family from the US came to visit Toronto so we suggested going to a museum. We were like, “And we’ll take the subway! 😄”. They thought we were joking.
We took the subways, lol.
I really liked Toronto when I visited, I almost want to move there but finding a tech job there seems tough as a noncitizen
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I’ve been riding public transit daily for over two decades at this point, and I haven’t been killed/mugged/ threatened once. Depending on the time of day you’re riding it can get more sketchy, but standard commuter hours everyone just wants to get from A to B.
I have been threatened and almost mugged but both were at night. I’d still ride you just need situational awareness. It’s less a public transport issue and more my city sucks with dealing with mental health and homelessness.
Seems like the fossil fuel industry has an incentive to make public transportation more unpleasant by not dealing with mental health and homelessness.
