Public Transit is Awesome
 

I love the Saskatoon bus service. It gets me to school on days when the thought of driving makes me fear for my life and the lives of everyone around me. Making the experience even better, busses and LRT's and metros are basically the best places in the world for people watching. I've overheard many a good conversation on the buses around the city, but today I heard one so great that I feel a need to share it with all of you.


"And they're identical twins right? So now she's been freaking out, saying I cheated on her with her sister and I'm trying to get her to understand I was drunk and thought it was her! I would never cheat on her, to me I was just fucking Kayla again." "Yeah, I don't know what that girl's problem is."




How about you? What have been your best overheard conversations whilst enjoying public transit? What have been your worst experiences? Weirdest experiences?

I don't care much for the buses here in the greater Boston area, there's a thirty-minute gap between them most of the time (barring peak hours), and that's when they are, in fact, on time. I can and have on two occasions chosen to walk through a snowstorm rather than wait for the bus. The trains are pretty good, though.

Every now and then this one old black dude comes on the train, and he is just unforgettable. He's a loudmouth, and he's always wearing the same fedora + trenchcoat combo, and his hair is always in shoulder-length dreads. He claims to have been a gangster under Al Capone and that the latter "broke him in," "made him what he is today" (though "what he is today" is never elaborated on), and so on.

He's nearly picked a fight with other passengers a few times trying to back up his gangster cred, but I haven't seen anything come out of it.

I think he mentioned his name was Kenny.

Public transit is great if you like
1. being harassed by drug addicts when you have to take the bus downtown which takes you through the "bad" part of town
2. being stared at very intently by drunk creepy old men
3. sitting next to people who smell like they haven't showered in days
4. being groped by the man standing next to you in a crowded bus because he thinks he's clever and can get away with it
5. waiting for the bus in the winter, which is inevitably late but you show up to the stop on time just in case it's not, and by the time you get on the bus you're a human popsicle
6. strangers harassing you at the terminal for change so they can pay the fare
7. avoiding puddles that form from coffee cups that are discarded on the floor of the bus (seriously WTF people, there's a garbage bag at the front of the bus!)

I am not fond of the transit in my town. However, I am glad that the buses run fairly often (every 10 minutes during peak hours) as I can't afford a car so I can generally get around town quickly. I just don't like putting up with all the creeps, especially when I'm getting home late 'cause they show up more often in the evening.

The transit in columbus isn't that bad, though never on time. That being said, my best bus experience was during Ohayocon a couple years ago where we had half a bus full of inner city rabble and the other full of cosplayers, both unnerving the hell out each other.

My hometown is just now building a public transit system. Mainly it's a cooperative service between the University and the city that serves only part of the town during college hours so during the various breaks (Spring, Fall, Winter) it doesn't run and only has limited runs during the summer. However, the main cities of Northwest Arkansas are trying to work together to set up a transit system, unfortunately it's from the ground up so even if they agree to something tomorrow, it'll be years before there's a region-wide system. Plus none of the cities grew in a way that allow an easy setup. Gotta love suburban sprawl.

But other than a very few crazies that ride the system and one twit driver, I have no complaints about the University's buses.

I take it to and from college every day I have classes, and I think it's pretty smooth running out here. Only twice has there been serious delays, and one was because of a bad storm.

Plus in the long run, it saves money as otherwise I spend 40 minutes driving, not to mention needing a parking pass and having to find a parking spot.

I adore my town's public transit system. It would only get better if they'd hurry up with the Light Rail Vehicle's they've been planning in my area for a while now.

...Don't you live in Toronto? Dude, Calgary has a rail system. Regina's seriously looking into building one. Regina. Toronto isn't supposed to be getting one-upped by the second biggest city in Saskatchewan.

Do you have adequate garbage disposal? Congrats, you just one-upped Toronto.

The public transit in my town sucks. When you have to drive to reach the nearest bus stop, it kinda defeats the whole point.

That said, on the rare occasion I have to go into Salt Lake City (it's the nearest/only "major" city around here) I do greatly prefer to use public transit than driving down myself. Taking the light-rail train down into town and using the trax trolleys to get around is a lot less of a hassle than driving down and trying to find a parking spot in a city I'm not all that familiar with.