How well do you handle public transportation? My drinking thread got me to wondering this question to pose to you all. I hate public transportation to death myself. Before I got my first car, I'd have to hop 2 buses to and from work. It used to take me 90 minutes to get where I was going. What would make it worse is having to scrap with managers and supervisors over shifts that would accommodate a bus schedule and they used to not wanna hear it.

If I didn't have a car, I wouldn't be able to keep a job. I'm not good with public transportation. Seriously, I'd rather stay home than deal with a bus.

A good friend of mine has no car, and absolutely loves taking public transportation. Loves being around people and getting out and about like that. I couldn't do it. When I drive to work, after I park, I have to take a shuttle bus to the site. That alone bothers me.

Public transportation is pure hell when you HAVE to take it, day in and day out. I know what's it's like not to have a car, it hinders you when you have to get errands and other shit done. I like having the option of it though, sometimes when I to go into Manhattan I won't drive solely because there is limited parking and I don't like dealing with parking garages. Sometimes I don't feel like driving at all and I'll hop on the train. The public bus is one I can't stand for the most part.

Public transportation has its advantages if you live in NY. You can get almost anywhere riding a subway or a bus and not have to worry about parking your car which can be near impossible in the city. But let me tell you...........It is a nightmare sometimes. I commute to work every day, I ride the railroad first then when I get to the city I ride the subway to my job. The railroad is like a snail, especially in the evenings coming home, there are always delays and problems and it literally crawls. The best is when they cancel trains or if I am waiting for the subway knowing my train for home leaves in like 20 minutes then the subway is delayed, its a nightmare. The subway platforms start to get crowded with people going home, hundreds and hundreds so you can imagine what happens when that train finally pulls into the station.

Another horror is the heat in the tunnels. The subway I ride when you are going down it feels like the pits of hell, it has to be over 100 degrees on a hot day and you can literally sweat and pass out. The railroad is no better the tunnels are just as hot and you stand there with hundreds of people sweating and hoping that a slight breeze will happen. Now you people that are not New Yorkers can understand a little of what we go through and why we have the attitude we have.

Nystyle709 wrote:

Public transportation is pure hell when you HAVE to take it, day in and day out. I know what's it's like not to have a car, it hinders you when you have to get errands and other shit done. I like having the option of it though, sometimes when I to go into Manhattan I won't drive solely because there is limited parking and I don't like dealing with parking garages. Sometimes I don't feel like driving at all and I'll hop on the train. The public bus is one I can't stand for the most part.

Its wiser NY to take the train into the city, like you said the parking garages cost a small fortune and trying to park on the street is practically impossible.

The worse thing about it for me is the waiting. I don't like having to bake in the sun, or freeze in the cold, waiting for a bus to show up. Then there's having to stand up when all the seats are filled. Beyond that, then it's not that big a deal. You just pull the string when you need the bus to stop, or whatever. Public transportation can be fun if you're riding with someone you know.

I don't like public transportation for the same reason I don't much care for having my car full of passengers: when I'm on the road, I like quiet (well, except for the radio). I tend to ponder and "meditate" when I drive and like to be alone when I'm doing it.

I don't have a car so it's all I take, except for when I can get one of my friends to pick me up and take me somewhere.

I live in a decent size Midwestern city. Our bus system is a joke. First, it does not come all the way out to the suburb I live in. In the city, it runs limited hours, not at all on Sunday. So, it does not even serve as a plan for the bar crowd.
Most here own a car and for those who don't they probably mostly work jobs that require weekend work, so the no bus on Sunday thing screws them. Any time I see a bus, there are never more than five people on.

I despise public transportation. The waiting for buses to show up. Sometimes MISSING the bus if you don't get there on time. The having having to stand up if there's no seat available, getting stuck next to some odd stranger if you do get a seat. AND you have to pay for the privileged of all this. Like Marc said, if it came down to going and not going based on public transportation being my only way of getting there, I'm more likely to just not go.

If I want to go downtown, I use public transport as parking is really expensive and hard to find. It ends up being far cheaper to just take the bus if I want to spend more than an hour or two downtown, which I usually do.

If I had to depend on the bus or train to commute I might feel differently, but on those rare occasions I do go to NYC it's the train for me. For me getting to work though, P.T. isn’t an option.

I seldom use our transit here. I ride my bike everywhere instead.

On my bike I can predict when I will get to work, six miles away. It is half an hour by bike, 40 to 50 minutes by bus since there is a transfer involved. Hate having to wait for one bus then have to wait for the transfer bus. You either arrive too early or late.

I can even ride my bike to downtown Miami, 10 miles away and make the same time as the bus. I've ridden my bike thru gale force winds in tropical storms. Can't get any wetter than standing at a bus stop. Plus I have to walk seven blocks to the bus stop.

Impact wrote:

How well do you handle public transportation?

I don't mind commuter trains or the subway that much, but bus busses suck!

I imagine that subway trains and riding through a tunnel to get to another part of the city are probably a totally different experience than buses. Buses are plain awful to deal with. When I was 10, my mom's car broke down and every morning for about a month we'd wake up super early to catch the bus to school. When I started working at my last job and my old car was constantly acting up, I'd usually be able to get someone to drop me off at work but would have to catch the bus home and it sucked. I'm just a car person, I don't like public commutes.