Updated: Do you use public transit

[RossMAN]

I take public transporation to/from work for a variety of reasons:

1) Portland, Oregon has one of the best public transportation systems in the country.
2) Driving, gas and parking costs around $13 per work day ($286/mo) vs $60 for an unlimited bus/train pass.
3) Less stressful.
4) I can take a nap, read or have rancid meth addicted homeless women hitting on me.

 

[crystal]

45 miles drive one way trip to work. I would need to switch 4 or 5 buses to get to my house/work. My travel time would double or triple. I already waste 2 hrs per day in commute. I don't to waste more by sitting on the bus.

 

[kami333]

I do sometimes to get to work, but only when I absolutely have to (car not avaiable, etc). Both my gf and I work at the same place so we generally just car pool.

For me it's just not efficient enough, 10min drive to work vs 30-40min (12min walk to station + 1-15min wait + 20min ride). Although we get free transit passes from work so if I did use public transportation it would be a lot cheaper.

 

[pcnerd37]

I only use public transportation to avoid big parking costs at sports events and concerts.

 

[upsciLLion]

Originally posted by: stev
I look at the people on the bus and it's mostly student-aged people. Very rarely do I ever see someone step on the bus that's in a suit.

I take the bus from Lake Forest Park to downtown for work, and most of the people are dressed in at least business casual. Of course LFP is a suburb and the U district is the U district.

 

[flexy]

Originally posted by: stev, the bus is considered to be "for poor people". I look at the people on the bus and it's mostly student-aged people.

Here we go, i am in the lucky position to have lived 8+ in the states, consider you lucky...Seattle is a kicka$$ city and probably the best PT in the whole USA.

Other locations, mainly chicago suburbs etc....PT compared to EU is a joke.

I have been to job-interviews where the *bosses* are travelling 6 days a week..and its normal to use PT, not only for bums and handicapped people who "can't drive', like in the states

I live in a TINY city (compared to chicago in the states or similiar)..and we have about 100 bus-lines and i can get to any place i want incl. surrounding towns basically in 10 or 20mins intervals.

Ok...i wont disagree that distances and commutes in the states are far longer compared to here..defintly....but still..WTF dont you put SOME tax-dollars in reasonable PT ?????

 

[Bosconian]

Originally posted by: Mr Incognito
Boulder has a great bus system so I either walk (which I do 90% of the time) and riding the bus, with a bus pass CU provides you as a student.

Then again, Boulder's not that big. Three buses and you have the whole town covered.

I'm happy if I can just get a cab from the Dark Horse at 3AM.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Bottom line: Public transportation in the United States sucks ass and is horribly inefficient in most metro areas. You know, this might be a good public works project to get us out of the next great depression.

 

[reitz]

I use mass transit all the time. I bus into work, and as much as possible bus into destinations in the city on weekends. My initial motive was to reduce the stress from rush hour driving; I found myself to be much more pleasant at work after I started bussing in from the suburbs.

Now I live in the city and don't have to deal with the suburban shitbags during rush hour, but I continue to take the bus. It's partly convenience (I catch it in front of my neighbor's house...literally fifty feet from my front door) but mostly environmentalism. I'm still burning gas when I ride the bus, but my trip is much more efficient when I share it with eighty other riders versus me alone in my 22 mpg (city) Subaru Outback. As a bonus, I listen to music on my mp3 player while I watch the scenery go by, or if things are really crazy at work I fire up my laptop and connect to the Internet through my Blackberry to answer emails.

It costs a bit more than driving ($65/mo for a bus pass versus $28/mo for parking), but I'm burning less gas and enjoying my commute while someone else does the driving...and I only have a three block walk to the office from my stop downtown instead of the mile walk from our company parking lot.

 

[eplebnista]

Nope & Transit is unavailable in my area

 

[Sphexi]

Lord no. Around here it's hella expensive, $2.50 to ride it one way, and where I work is beyond the "border" which means they charge two fares instead of one. That'd be $10 roundtrip for work, and it's only about 22 miles round trip, we're talking less than $3 in gas, plus maintenance and insurance probably means about $5 total a day that I go to work. Half the cost of the public transit here, and takes maybe 15-20 min to get there in traffic, compared to the hour-hour and a half it'd take by bus.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

If you don't use transit regularly, why not?

Because my car is the bomb.
looks great
sounds great
goes exactly where I want it to, when I want it to
I reserve complete descretion over it's occupants
faster than 10 fast buses
public transportation is pussy repellant

 

[Imdmn04]

Considering parking is $15 a day at my work, public transportation is a better deal, plus I don't have to pay for gas.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler
If you don't use transit regularly, why not?

Because my car is the bomb.
looks great
sounds great
goes exactly where I want it to, when I want it to
I reserve complete descretion over it's occupants
faster than 10 fast buses
public transportation is pussy repellant

I agree with most of your points, but I met my current g/f of 3.5 years on a bus. I have chatted up numerous fine ladies on transit.

 

[Pakman]

I prefer driving, but I take the commuter train to work. Mainly because it's quicker than being stuck in traffic and I get a subsidy that pays for more than half of the commuting cost. Plus I live about 1.5 miles from the train station.

 

[Martin]

It costs me about $80-90 a month for public transit to/from work and parking alone would cost around 120, with car payments and insurance adding hundreds on top of that.