How technology affects us...

[Henrik_Volkers]

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@LordNobady wrote:

at the moment we are replacing most of them by roundabouts. they are more fun. 

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Like the (in)famous "magic roundabout" in Swindon ?

“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory which states that this has already happened.”
― Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

[RobertoBozzolo]

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thoult ha scritto:

I'd be interested in seeing a reasonable comparison of public transport costs in cities/countries around the world.

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I have been using public transport to go to the office from the last 10 years and I consider it full profit!

At present I spend 496€/year to have unlimited access to all transports in Milan and the near suburbs; I would reasonably spend 90€/week if using my car, not considering personal stress, car decay and so on.

Even considering that travel time is almost equal by car and by bus, I'm with altenbach in that I can exploit it better by bus: I studied this way for my 5-year Spanish course and read there almost all my books.

[thoult]

I don't argue that it's a wonderful thing - I miss public transport to work so much these days, now that I live in the countryside.

I must admit that my commuting time was never quite so productive as yourself and altenbach - the time was best spent either sleeping or reading novels. Actually, on second thoughts, I would probably never have found the time to read some of the classic novels that I managed to get through via train and bus journeys!

I merely wonder how the price of public transport in London compares to that in other cities around the world.

[LV_Pro]

Sadly, public transportation isn't an option in much of the US. There are too many employers who have built their facilities in rural or semi-rural areas, and too many of us live in rural/suburban areas. Nearer major metropolitan centers, like NYC, LA, San Francisco, Washington, DC, there are pretty decent mass transit options. But for me it is a scenic, if costly, 45 minute commute from my suburban home to the facility 25 miles away outside another small village. Pretty drive though. There was a bus than ran from another community to our plant, there were enough hourly employees that took it to partially justify it, but that stopped running about a year ago, our employees weren't quite enough to justify it.

[RobertoBozzolo]

Well, in my case I can estimate no less than an hour for a 15 km journey crossing the city, with too much stress.

Transportation inside or outside big cities is a very different matter...

[SnowMule]

I would not survive living in an urban community.  I'm on the edge of suburbia right now and  there's still too many people.

Local bus system put a light rail train in a few years ago and it's been a huge success, had to double (almost triple) the parking capacity at the station near me to accommodate the vehicles. 

Since my commute's <6mi, I usually just take the bike... 60-70mpg around town, and it'll exceed the speed limit before i'm even through the intersection.

[Ray.R]

I recognize the KTM  😉

The people leading the city have not figured out appropriate transportation systems...  Wait... Let me correct that.

Canada as a country has not figured out public transportation.  It's a shame to say that you cannot take a bus to the Maritime provinces anymore.  They are talking about cancelling train transportation, too.  That leaves airlines (they $uck), bicycles (if you're up for 1000 - 1800 km ride), hitchiking, walking (wasn't biking bad?), or driving some sort of motorized vehicle.

Our town prides itself of being as efficient as European public transportation systems.  They obviously never made it to Europe.  Here, on-time means 15 to 30 to 60 minutes late.  Express busses with the same number as regular buses do not go over the same roads.  It costs an arm, leg and some other body parts per month to get into an overcrowded bus with a disgruntled driver (they've been known to go "postal"). They do not have a very good safety record either.  I'm sure some of the mishaps have made it over the international news scene.  It took the city 25 years to decide to have a light train system.  We (tax-payers) had to pay $250M (that number might be wrong) to default on a contract for a light train system that was supposed to cost $750 (at the time, ~4 years ago), it will now cost $1.5 to 2.0 Billion dollars.

Basically our fuel prices are similar to that of the UK and bus prices similar to London.  They now want to charge people for parking at transit stations on top of the fare prices to take the bus.  There is no bus service on the outskirts of town.  If there was, a 30 min drive would take 1.5 hours on the Ontraio side.  Add what seems to be an entire day if you dare go to the Quebec side... Well... I should not complain.... On the Quebec side, they added "fast bus lanes" at an extravagant cost.  The result?  A bus ride that took 15 minutes now takes 1.5 hours with 2 additional connections (transfers).  Plus, the new "bus lanes" make absolutely no sense.  It added confusion to an already confused road system resulting in many collisions beween busses and cars crossing the same intersection at the same time but in opposite directions.  Or, you're in the middle of an intersection and wonder "which of these lanes are for cars and which are for the busses?  Where does this road go to?"  I should should a Goggle map of those new lanes.

Seems like the people that designed the public transit in our city are either 5 years old or total idiots..  And they wonder why less people are taking the bus... D'euh...

[jcarmody]

Is there anyone in/near Detroit that can comment on the Detroit Bus Company?  I understand that they started business in the "relaxed" regulatory climate following the city's bankrupcy.

[Hooovahh]

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@jcarmody wrote:

Is there anyone in/near Detroit that can comment on the Detroit Bus Company?  I understand that they started business in the "relaxed" regulatory climate following the city's bankrupcy.

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The only people I know that work in downtown Detroit also live in downtown Detroit so they walk to work.