So That’s What Those Trains Are For 8

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1. 

   colearnek Posted 3:15 am
   17 Aug 2007

   Give me decent public transportation I'll take it!After responding to a question posed by Current TV a few days ago, â€oeWhat would it take to convince you to give up your car?” to which I responded â€oeBetter public transportation” I decided I better make sure I knew what I was talking about.  
   So I went to the local bus system website and entered the route from my home to work everyday.  It came back with a 7:50 am pick-up not too far from my home, one transfer and a drop off reasonable close to my work with a total transit time of 1 hour and 21 minutes.  (This is normally, by car, a 30 minute drive in traffic a 15 minute one without).  Additionally since I have to be at work by 8am and this would put me there just after nine it was not a viable option.
   So I chose the option on the page for â€oearrive earlier at destination” and had it recalculate.  This time the pick up was 7:10 am in the same reasonable close to my house location.  The trip would require three transfers, take me 10 miles in the opposite direction of where I wanted to go and deposit me at the same reasonably close to my work location approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes after pick-up thereby still making me late to work.
   While I am reasonable willing to do what I can to help the environment (and save myself gas) this did not seem like a viable solution.  I rest my case.  By the way, just for reference, I live in Orange County, Calfornia.
   
   

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2. 

   chugach3dguy Posted 3:40 am
   17 Aug 2007

   One person in China can't speak for the world..."It's very convenient, actually, it's no more trouble than taking the car." Hear that, world?
   
   
   
   
   Oh, I hear that. And I disagree. Public transportation here in Alaska is dismal- at best. Never mind that I live in the mountains- 10 miles from the nearest bus stop, but my daily commute time would at the very minimum DOUBLE if I were to rely on public transportation. Besides, standing outside in the elements, waist-deep in snow is not the preferred method to start my day.
   Would it cost me less to just suck it up and take the bus every day? Sure! It would cost a few dollars less per day than what I currently pay for gasoline. However, all that money saved by using public transportation gets blown right out the window because of all the extra time I spend commuting.
   I suppose I could just live in town and not have a car at all, but that's where I won't budge. I moved up here from Chicago a couple of years ago. If I wanted to maintain the whole "urban experience", I would've stayed in Chicago. I rent a very TINY but gorgeous studio in the mountains so I can at least have a great view.
   And as for Chicago, I think they're public transportation system is no better. Sure, they have all the buses and trains that stop every 100 feet, but that also added to my commute. Even though I lived IN the city, I still had to leave my place by 6am to get to where I needed to be by 8am. No wonder people are so miserable! And didn't even get to the part where the undesirable portions like to use these buses and trains as a mobile hotel. And bathroom. Ain't nothing like standing on the train all the way in to the city because the only free seats are covered in urine and feces. Way to go, humans.
   As far as solutions to this problem with public transportation, I'm open to hearing suggestions. But when all the municipal developers and planners are chomping at the bit to expand highways, build more 4-lane "sidestreets", and more overpriced cookie-cutter housing 30 miles outside of town, it only makes it easier and more logical to just drive your own car.

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3. 

   mat Posted 3:47 am
   17 Aug 2007

   oh please....
   
   yeah, right. everyone does realize that after the olympics, China will revert to business as usual.
   
   and details about a lot of their business as usual is not for the faint of heart.

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4. 

   Sarah K. Burkhalter Posted 6:15 am
   17 Aug 2007

   A little respect, chugach3dguyPeople without homes are people, not "undesirable portions."

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5. 

   sustainablejohn Posted 7:24 am
   17 Aug 2007

   buses in beijingtaking the bus in beijing is a bitch at rush hour, buses average ten kilometres an hour.  cars pretty much the same.  so the advantage of the car is you're not jam packed with a hundred people on a bus, you can sit in your car and look rich and show it off.  but i take the bus anyway, it's more adventurous.  and buses are so dirt cheap, if you have a transport card, it costs between US 5-30 cents to get where you're going.
   i just wish these car bans would take place every day...

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6. 

   danielbarker123 Posted 7:27 am
   17 Aug 2007

   China cleans up it's act?Let's be honest.  The PRoC invaded Tibet in 1959, and if they want to clean up their act the first would be to reinstall the Dalai Lama as leader.  Earlier this year I wrote a letter to His Holiness the Dalai Lama recommending the IOC play the Tibetan national anthem at the opening ceremonies.  I ask everyone to do the same.

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7. 

   chugach3dguy Posted 7:47 am
   17 Aug 2007

   I disagree...There are homeless people out there who are really down on their luck, and they need help. These kinds of people are rarely seen on the street, and if they are, only for a short period of time. Why? Because they're busting their humps trying to get back on their feet- and I applaud those efforts. I will give respect where it is due. But respect is earned- not given.
   The undesirable portions of society I speak of are the homeless-by-choice people who reek of alcohol and human waste. These are the SAME people I see every single day as I go to and from work. They're the SAME people, sitting in the same places, drinking the same booze, smoking the same dope, ALL the time. It took 2 years before one guy finally understood that I would not give him money to buy alcohol- and only after insulting me. These are the people that get drunk and high and pass out in the parking lot of where I work. These are the people that leave piles of broken liquor bottles and vomit in the doorway. These are the same people that I see urinating and defecating in the landscaped garden of the place where I work- while there is a public restroom NOT 100 FEET from where they decided to lose a little more of their nearly non-existent self respect.
   So no, I will not respect these people. They ARE undesirable, and they are a drain on my community- and your community. They are the people that refuse to be helped- and it's their choice. However, I'm getting tired of their "choice" to make all of our surroundings a giant toilet bowl and garbage dump. And it's this last bit, their total lack of respect for not only the community I share with them, but themselves. This is why they're called "undesirable portions". At least animals don't defecate where they eat.

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8. 

   Sarah K. Burkhalter Posted 3:33 am
   20 Aug 2007

   I also disagreeNo one is "homeless by choice." And as much as our culture lauds pulling oneself up by one's bootstraps, our bureaucratic infrastructure often makes such a thing incredibly difficult, if not impossible.
   No doubt some people make better decisions than others. But oft-mentally-ill, oft-struggling-with-addiction, oft-having-made-bad-decisions, oft-looked-down-on-by-the-more-fortunate people are still people.

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