#Busses

[sluttyquarantinetheory]

They've started adding seatbelts to school busses. But yeah US city busses don't do seatbelts. A regional bus might have them but it's a toss up

Do buses have seatbelts where you live? yes/no (if mod wants to add a never been on a bus option that's fine)

[writing-with-olive]

So i'm working on a project that involves looking at people's opinions on public transportation, and something that keeps coming up is that a lot of people like the idea of public transportation but ridership is at the same time low, so I wanna figure out what stops people from riding.

If you could reblog this for bigger sample size that would be so so appreciated

[alpaca-clouds]

Public Transport COULD Be Great

Americans visiting Europe, especially those more left-leaning Americans, will always be so impressed when it comes to our public transport. And it does not matter where they visit here. Netherlands? "Amazing Public Transport!" France? "Amazing!" Germany? "Amazing!" Even in the UK they will be impressed.

And I kinda get it. While once upon a time the US made a conserted effort to get people moving via train, that has been almost two centuries ago and by now they just decided that people having cars is making more companies more money, so who needs cheap public transport? And while I personally actually kinda liked the public transport on the east coast while I was visiting the US... Yeah, I am well aware that the east coast (especially the area between New York City and DC) is not quite representative for the US.

However, here is the thing: If you ask most Europeans about their public transport... Well, we'll complain as well.

Because they fucking ruined it!

See, here is the issue, in a lot of parts in Europe, at some point or another the government privatized some or all of the public transport. This hit some countries like the UK especially hard, but Germany was hit also quite a lot.

Because of that a lot of things happened that happened when you try to use capitalist logic onto something that cannot work under capitalism.

For example a lot of rails have been removed in areas where it was not "cost efficient" to run trains. Or if they have not been removed, they are at least no longer used. In Germany you will find that in the area where I am living (North-Rhine-Westfelia) we have somewhat good running public transport. Meanwhile a friend of mine is living in former East Germany. And something you gotta understand about former East Germany: After the reunification a lot of people from East Germany tried to move away from there, thinking they would do better in "West Germany". So you will find a lot of mostly empty villages and towns there. And you know what does not pay under capitalism? Right: Running trains to fairly depopulated villages and towns. So... This friend is forced to use a car all the time. Because the next train station that is actually still in use is 45 minutes by car away.

Sure, technically there is a bus running through her village... It comes 3 times a day mondays to fridays, 2 times a day on Saturday and not at all on Sunday. Also to reach the aforementioned train station, the bus connection would take her almost two hours.

Now mind you: There is a train station about 10 minutes by car from her. But that one has not been in use for almost 20 years. Because, again: It just does not pay. It is not profitable for the company, so it is no longer in use.

And here we get to the issue: Public transport is an amazing thing... But we see again and again, that it really only works in those cases where it is state-run and paid for with taxes. As soon as it is privatized it will just not work. Because, well... In general public transport really is not a thing that will be paying for itself. It is fairly expensive, and to keep it profitable you need to keep raising the prices. (As a German: Believe me, I know!)

Not to mention that company policies will lead to weird stuff happening with the trains. Here in Germany? Well, the biggest train company (that is kinda partly state-owned, but not state-run, so it is run under capitalist ideas) has promised their investors that the trains will not be as delayed as before. But given the piss-poor state in which the rail network is, this is just not feasible. So, what will they do? Simple! If a train gets too delayed they will just cancel it. Will that fuck everyone travelling over way more than letting the train delay for 20 minutes? Yeah. But they do not care. They only care about the investors.

And this is the general issue.

For public transit to work, you need to design the transit network to serve the people - and not to make money. Because it does not matter that there are only some old people left in some depopulated little town in eastern Germany or western England... Those old people deserve to be able to get from their depopulated little town to the next big shopping center and cultural center as well.

As long as you do not design the stuff with those people in mind...

Sure, it is better than no public transport. But it still sucks.

[annabeth-the-chase]

LEOOOO!!!!

Credits to pinterest. The photi isn't mine

[lost-my-soup]

I hate car culture for many things, but it makes meetcutes so hard to write.

Where else are you going to acidentally meet hot strangers if not on the bus or train?

[analphylacticamy]

Chicago, my heart

[life-spire]

Japan (by Arif Angga Ibrahim)

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[objectumspectrum]

Public Bus Objectum

//Flag by us, term coined by us

[mintaikk]

Watching a bus get gas is like watching a giraffe drinking water

[tennis-out-of-context]

[sweaters-and-vertigo]

i forgot how much i MISSED PROTESTING until attending this earth day rally and protest with the sunrise movement. it was so incredible and empowering. during the rally, we discussed the way climate change disproportionately affects people in poverty while the billionaires get richer by polluting the earth. we talked about how we needed to transition to renewable and recyclable materials as soon as possible. and one of the speakers at the rally was a palestinian activist who spoke about israel’s detrimental impact on the environment. i held my sign up as high as i could for as long as i could. i usually keep it right there in my car, so it’s almost like i’m protesting everywhere i go. i just wish i had better handwriting.

we took to the streets and shut ‘em down!! we demanded better, cleaner public transportation because cars are so polluting. we demanded accountability and action from our government. and we demanded an end to the genocides in palestine and the congo. some of the people on the sidewalks cheered, some of them filmed us or took photos, some of them laughed at us, some of them got mad at us. i didn’t even care. i had the biggest smile on my face the entire time, as we chanted, “mayor lucas, you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side!” “this planet is not for profit, so biden get the hell off of it!” “from the river to the sea palestine will be free!” “if the congo is under attack, what do we do?! fight back!” then when we got to the apple store we stopped and the leader with the megaphone gave a speech about the company’s use of child slavery and their polluting practices.

i hadn’t protested in such a long time because of my mental health struggles but now that i’ve got a new medication (as in one that is actually effective) i’m finally ABLE to get engaged in the community again. it was euphoric. it was an incredible privilege to be out there today. i am so excited for all the future demonstrations i’ll be attending!! i only wish i had the guts to ask some of them to sign my petition to for kc apartments to have recycling options. but at least i’ll get another chance ☺️

[cosmic-muses]

Public transport I love you but why do you do this to me

[starsilversword]

Because I'm curious.

Pls reblog to spread

[floxu]

Ugh I cannot wait to take the train and bus tomorrow then the metro to my apartment then to uni and back. I love public transit, especially if it works so well together. Still does not beat biking--THAT STUFF JUST IS SO FUN.

[greencheekconure27]

Dear De Lijn

Please tell me how many hours I need to detract from the official departure time in your app in order to be there on time.Just give me a rule of thumb please because I am tired.

E.g. if your app tells me that I can take the bus at 17:48 to arrive at my evening job by 19:00, should the bus I Actually take be the 15:48 one or the 14:48 one? Or maybe 10:48?!? Maybe I should give up and just camp out there?

Sincerely.

I despise you and hope you all burn in hell.

A very tired and angry customer

[general-hugss]

Shout out to these new super short busses in Bruges. They are excellent and very cute ☺️