Who here takes public transportation on a regular basis?

[Nixon]

Re: Who here takes public transportation on a regular basis?

Maaan, there was this one time this crazy dude was pacing up and down the bus saying the military wouldnt let him leave, and was always comming to get him. He was freaking people out and the driver kept telling him to sit down and stop swearing.

I was all ready to jump him if he took a swing at somebody.

I had a similar experience, only the crazy guy's clothes were covered in semi-fresh bloodstains, and he was pacing while talking about how he was going to kill and dismember people.

The driver did nothing. The passengers did nothing. I wanted to yell "I'M NOT HERE FOR FUN, I'M JUST TRYING TO GET TO WORK, LEAVE ME ALONE!!!" I was so happy when he left.

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: Who here takes public transportation on a regular basis?

I ride the bus everywhere. Especially when I'm in school. I get a student bus pass good for 6 months for $10. No tales of woe aside from the inconvenience of having to plan my day around the usually unreliable bus schedule.

[Red Dragon]

Re: Who here takes public transportation on a regular basis?

I take the bus.

Every....

Stupid...

Day...

But at least it saves me a crap-load of cash because I get to ride for free.

[Shard]

Re: Who here takes public transportation on a regular basis?

I take the train to work every day. It's alright. You get the occasional homeless person or panhandlers but mostly there's a pretty broad cross-section of people.

I had to take the city bus to the train station for the first month and a half I lived at my current place because I didn't have a car. It mostly sucked. The people tended to be of slightly lower income status, but what irritated me were the bus schedules and just the extraordinary amount of time it took to get anywhere. I got one guy who had just been kicked out of jail that morning, muttering and swearing at people until the driver told him to shut it or get off. Hooray for drivers that don't take ****. Most of the people I ran into were just working class or students.

[Wavelength]

Re: Who here takes public transportation on a regular basis?

In the morning and late afternoon on school days, everywhere in a 5-mile radius of the University of Florida is packed. To cut down on cars, they introduced a "Regional Transit System" many years ago, which is a bunch of buses running routes through and near the school. It's free for UF students and only 50 cents per ride for anyone else. So I take it whenever I'm going to school, even though I do have a car that I use for all other commutes.

It's woefully inconsistent--they're supposed to come every 10 minutes during peak times, but sometimes you wait 20 or more during peak times. In the evening I'd waited more than 60 minutes before for an "every 30 minutes" route. Then, because people were waiting so long, you have stand up and try to find something to hold on to. Having ridden the NYC subway several times this summer, I can tell you it's harder trying to stand and not swing into people as the buses turn and jar than it was standing on the subway. That's if your lucky--the bus may have already filled up and then you're out of luck.

The demographics are interesting, though. Mostly students, of all demographics... many very poor-looking people as well, but you also have younger adults in suits or medical outfits going wherever they need to go.