What do you think of your public transport?

What do you think of the public transport around your area? Good? Reliable? Fast? Efficient? Let's have some discussion on this! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

The Netherlands has a close knit of public transport system of buses, trams and metro in the cities, as well as inter-city and regional trains and bus services.
You can buy a special 'strippenkaart' at all train stations, postoffices, in most tobacco shops and in buses and trams. The whole country is divided in "zones" and a number of "strips" is used depending on how many zones you cross.

Being a small country, almost every place is easily accessable by public transportation. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I think Dutch public transport is not half as good as it could be for such a rich and densily populated country, and it's still going downhill.
Main problem, as I see it, is that in the '60s and '70s there's been very little investment in railways, everybody thinking the motercar would be the perfect solution for all transportation needs. Now that the country is turning into one great traffic jam, instead of putting lots of money in a long-delayed expansion of the raiway network, it gets privatized. And, as the British found out, you don't privatize a monopoly like that overnight without massive problems (at least The Shambles Formerly Know As British Rail shows some signs of improving). What's worse, the department that runs the train and the one that maintains the tracks have been uncoupled /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif so there's no more preventive mainternance on tracks and signals, resulting in plenty of delays. There's also talk of closing, or selling, all unprofitable lines.

we have none here.but a taxi is only 3 bucks any where in city limets.when i lived in clevelnad ohio the bus was great.very little or no wait between them.

i can usually get to almost any location in singapore via public transport in less than one and a half hours, with most trips being under an hour. the train line has just recently been upgraded, with a completely new north-east line being recently completed. the airport has its own station as well, and bus interchanges are located at certain stations so you can easily transfer from the train to a bus. the standard of public transport is generally high, and its operated by a few operators which are closely monitored by the governement, but the recent fare hikes have gotten some people upset.

here's a map of the mrt (mass-rapid transit) line:

I'm one of the upset commuters. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif

The MRT is not bad..quite good actually, but we are held hostage by the fact that the transport companies operate in a monopolistic environment, so we have to bend over and take the fare hikes as they come.

The last major fare hike we had, the companies justified it not by stating that they were making a loss(they were in fact making a decent profit), but rather that they needed to make a larger profit to keep the shareholders happy.

Despite the protests and letters to the press from the great unwashed(meaning us), the government turned a deaf ear(like they always do) and told us to "move on".

Certain bus services have been deliberately re-routed or removed to force people to use the new north-east line, which is why some of my colleagues now have to wake up an hour earlier than usual so that they will not be late for work.

I live in Manhattan and for all the criticism it takes i think public transport here is pretty good. Once you get out of the city you're in trouble without a car. Long Island public tranportation is pretty abysmal.

I don't drive, so when I travel I have to depend on the folks I'm working/travelling with or rely on public transport. I thought Boston and DC had good public transport. Memphis was pretty lame. You're SOL if you don't have a car pretty much everywhere I was in Texas (Dallas, Houston). In New Orleans I really only went out of the Quarter once on a quaint little trolly. London had great public transport as did Amsterdam (but watch out for those bikes if you're on foot /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif )

Better than nothing at all, here. Most bus routes run once per hour, and the others run once every two hours, 0730 - 1700 monday - friday only.

I'd just say something I might regret...

The Metropolitan Transit Association is a PITA.

They are now building "rail". A pissy little thing for the Superbowl next year. They are already getting ready to royally screw us for new routes.

ARGH!!!!!

I don't use our public transportation, but our bus drivers have been on strike since last Tuesday and it's really screwing up traffic around here. I hope they settle soon.

In England we say "WHAT Public transport?"!
All our public transport systems are privately owned franchises. The railway system is a joke, as different bits of the railway are run by separate companies who don't communicate with each other very well. It is also scandalously expensive to travel by train! It is far cheaper to take the aeroplane for some internal flights than to attempt to use the train!
Long distance buses are quite good if slow, but are reasonably priced.
Short distance buses though tend to be unreliable and sometimes very overcrowded. They also suffer from soaring fares.
For most journeys here in the UK I will always settle for the cheapest and most reliable form of transport that takes me door to door when I want, my motorbike of course!

When I lived in Japan, there was vitually no need to own a car. I really miss the trains. It was great to ride somewhere and read a book or sleep. Besides, no maintenance, no insurance and much lower cost! It was great. Here, in Rochester, NY, I see an occasional bus, but not much else.