NationStates Jolt Archive

Now I hate the fact that public transport services are almost always late just as much as the next guy. And are poorly run by management. But I have never thought of going as far as lighting the train or bus on fire.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24297083-23109,00.html

It seems some Argentines just snapped when their train was late yet again.

So do the people on NSG get annoyed by late public transport services or any other problems with public transport systems?

I will say this their has been one place where the Public transport system has been excellent and that was in Germany, Munich to be precise the trains were always on time and they were always clean.

I've had quite serious fantasies about burning down my bus-companies buildings....

Not that i'd do something like that, i won't give them the bloody satisfaction of seeing me put in jail, the bastards.

For most of the last 10 years I've used public transport to commute to Glasgow and back (about 40 miles each way) - one train and one bus to get there, one bus and one train to get back. Apart from the rare disruptions due to weather conditions, and the even more rare disruptions due to localised strike actions, I've been pretty happy with the service overall. I certainly can't complain about their punctuality, since it's always been at least as good as mine.

So no, I can't say that I've found myself getting annoyed by public transport systems.

I can't say that they (trains or buses) compare favourably with what I've experienced elsewhere in Europe as far as cleanliness goes, however. They can be pretty horrible, especially late at night.

Now I hate the fact that public transport services are almost always late just as much as the next guy. And are poorly run by management. But I have never thought of going as far as lighting the train or bus on fire.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24297083-23109,00.html

It seems some Argentines just snapped when their train was late yet again.

So do the people on NSG get annoyed by late public transport services or any other problems with public transport systems?

I will say this their has been one place where the Public transport system has been excellent and that was in Germany, Munich to be precise the trains were always on time and they were always clean.

Three words...

Docklands.....Light.....Railway

I generally don't have a problem with public transport. 90% of the time the buses I need to get here are on time, and deliver me on time. And when I'm travelling around England it's rare that I get a train that's more than about 5 minutes late.

I generally don't have a problem with public transport. 90% of the time the buses I need to get here are on time, and deliver me on time. And when I'm travelling around England it's rare that I get a train that's more than about 5 minutes late.

So the old joke is true than. "When a train is 5 minutes late in Germany the locals hold their head in shame and wonder what the country is coming to, when the a train is 5 minutes late in Britain they breath a sigh of relief and are thankful that it nearly on time"

Really you don't mind if it it only a few minutes late? Maybe I just have high standards and expect them to arrive when they say they will. I understand there will be some problems such as traffic disruptions like crashes, or for a train some guy holds up the train or something. But not every single day on almost every route.

Often, it is difficult for public transport to get where they need to because so many people are driving cars, and they tend to clog the roadways.

Often, it is difficult for public transport to get where they need to because so many people are driving cars, and they tend to clog the roadways.

Well then why don't they redraw the timetable to take this into account?

And that argument doesn't really work well for trains.

Well then why don't they redraw the timetable to take this into account?

And that argument doesn't really work well for trains.

You are assuming that they don't do this periodically. The trouble is that more people buy more cars, while roads don't get wider.

Are you talking about intercity trains, or light rail transit within a city?

Often, it is difficult for public transport to get where they need to because so many people are driving cars, and they tend to clog the roadways.
Those must be some pretty hardcore motorists to be driving in subway tunnels.

Those must be some pretty hardcore motorists to be driving in subway tunnels.

This assumes that all light rail transit is undergorund. Many cities have surface light rail transit, where car and rail traffic intersect.

You are assuming that they don't do this periodically. The trouble is that more people buy more cars, while roads don't get wider.

Are you talking about intercity trains, or light rail transit within a city?

I know they do it they don't do it often enough. (At least my local public transport administration don't)

Transit within a city, though my experience on intercity trains I have only experienced when in Germany though when I say that it was a 30 minute trip. I don't use it in Australia as our cities that have intercity rail it is better to drive or take a plane, so it is quite limited.

This assumes that all light rail transit is undergorund. Many cities have surface light rail transit, where car and rail traffic intersect.

Remember THROW, unless you are talking about trams where both the tram and the cars share the same space

I know they do it they don't do it often enough. (At least my local public transport administration don't)

Transit within a city, though my experience on intercity trains I have only experienced when in Germany though when I say that it was a 30 minute trip. I don't use it in Australia as our cities that have intercity rail it is better to drive or take a plane, so it is quite limited.

It would be pretty expensive to do the studies that would require timetable changes. Such expenses would have to be balanced out.

See my post above for how car traffic can interfere with urban rail transit.

here in AMERICA we have good public transportation. Except for the fact that it sucks for high schol students ...like me...the buses are like trained to run just as we get out of school

I've been relying on public transport for all my life so far, and it's pretty ok overall.

The only time it really drove me mad was while I was studying in Germany and returning home about every other weekend, trains were sometimes up to 2 hours late. Well, when I say sometimes, delays of around 30mins could be expected most of the time.

Dublin Bus was sort of ok, their biggest problem was that many times the busses would get stuck in traffic somewhere, causing a massive knock-on effect for later busses. And they never, in all the 4 years I lived there, managed to get additional busses out to get people to work in November and December. Many companies (especially manufacturing) would hire throves of people to deal with the increased demand, and suddenly the busses were so packed right after the first stop in the mornings that if you were waiting somewhere at a later stop it could be half an hour to an hour before one could take you. Which, on a cold and wet winter morning isn't exactly nice.

Here in Cork it's great, though. My bus always shows up on time at the bus stop. It's just sometimes late by the time it gets to town, due to traffic.

Remember THROW, unless you are talking about trams where both the tram and the cars share the same space

I was talking about subways, but streetcars would suffer the same problem.

I was talking about subways, but streetcars would suffer the same problem.

Ah ok but how does a subway even those when the train comes above ground have to deal with traffic?

Are they forced to stop in America?

Ah ok but how does a subway even those when the train comes above ground have to deal with traffic?

Are they forced to stop in America?

Each transit system in the Americas has its own way of dealing with these things.

Anyways, the point is that any public transit sytem that shares a road or track network is bound to have scheduling problems due to private vehicles clogging the road or track.

Each transit system in the Americas has its own way of dealing with these things.

Anyways, the point is that any public transit sytem that shares a road or track network is bound to have scheduling problems due to private vehicles clogging the road or track.

Yes ok those that share the same space would, but those where trains even trains that operate in their own corridors on their own rails still manage to find themselves behind the timetable.

But as I said maybe my expectations and standards are to high.

I can get to, in and around anywhere around London for a day, that is, the train (that runs every 20 minutes or so), the DLR, buses, the tube, most suburban train services in south London, the tram (if I wanted to go to Croydon), on and off, all day, for about £10. That's pretty good, in my opinion.

Round Sheffield it's a bit more hard, getting a return bus ticket is impossible since the bus companies don't accept each other's return tickets even if the route is the same. Plus, if you want to get the tram you them have to get Stagecoach anyway. But since it's so walkable anyway, that's not much of a problem.

The main causes of delays on the tube (which doesn't intersect with any road traffic) is usually due to idiots holding the doors open or pulling the emergency alarms. Where in rush hour trains only usually run with 1-3 minute headway between services, a single incident with the alarm being pulled can have a huge snowball effect.

Then you factor in something like a mechanical fault (LU has almost 4,000 rail cars, ergo a fault in one of them at some point in any given day is highly likely) as well as a signal system fault, and you can see where delays come from.

While I lived in MI, US, their transportation service was excellent. The CATA Bus service really excelled. They were never late and ran every 10 minutes.

Here in Madrid, I don't have complaints either. Both metro and bus services are great. But, my grandparents say the public transportation (except the train) where they live, Puerto Rico, is one of the worst in the world.

I generally don't have a problem with public transport. 90% of the time the buses I need to get here are on time, and deliver me on time. And when I'm travelling around England it's rare that I get a train that's more than about 5 minutes late.

Yeah I feel like you. Mostly the trains, tubes and buses run to the time table, the trains and tubes get packed at peak times, they are I think probably a bit more expensive than they should be, and we all know what I think of bus drivers. Apart from that I'm fairly happy about public transport.

So the old joke is true than. "When a train is 5 minutes late in Germany the locals hold their head in shame and wonder what the country is coming to, when the a train is 5 minutes late in Britain they breath a sigh of relief and are thankful that it nearly on time"

Really you don't mind if it it only a few minutes late? Maybe I just have high standards and expect them to arrive when they say they will. I understand there will be some problems such as traffic disruptions like crashes, or for a train some guy holds up the train or something. But not every single day on almost every route.

I should point out that the vast, vast, vast majority of trains I've got in England have been spot on time.

Vast.

I will say this their has been one place where the Public transport system has been excellent and that was in Germany, Munich to be precise the trains were always on time and they were always clean.

Going to have to strongly disagree there.

Japanese Public Trans, particularly rail, is infamously very good on both points.

If a JR train is 1 minute off schedule, the station attendants get on the PA and apologise profusely.

London transport always gets a bad rep but that's only because it seems Britain is running a nationwide negativity contest. And the top prize is really, really good (or crap if you want to win it) but it's generally pretty great. The tubes are no fun at rush hour and due to the nature of central London's roads the buses can get stuck in traffic. And if you live somewhere less central then mornings and turning out time near a local school is even less fun. I hope that stopped before it became a reverse what-did-the-romans-ever-do-for-us. It's generally punctual, regularly cleaned and crucially there is loads and loads and loads of it.

Oh, and another word re: negativity, despite stories that are presumably marketed to car owners that London's public transport is ridiculously expensive it is actually very reasonable if you have an oyster card. And if you don't, you've only got yourself to blame.

Going to have to strongly disagree there.

Japanese Public Trans, particularly rail, is infamously very good on both points.

If a JR train is 1 minute off schedule, the station attendants get on the PA and apologise profusely.

This may be quite a presumptious question, given that the chances are that you're not in charge of running the Japanese rail system, but why is it that Japanese rail is so reliable?

Going to have to strongly disagree there.

Japanese Public Trans, particularly rail, is infamously very good on both points.

If a JR train is 1 minute off schedule, the station attendants get on the PA and apologise profusely.
And if the Shinkansen is 2 minutes late, it makes the national news.

I love taking public transportation here, even in Tokyo. It's always fast, neat, and on time. Crowded as all hell (I am NEVER riding Yamanote during morning rush hour EVER again!), but I've only had two problems with the trains since I've come here. Once was a major construction issue where part of the line I needed had shut down so I had to get a workaround. The second was due to such heavy snow that even JR shut down and we ended up about an hour late.

And yes, every 5 minutes we would get an apology from JR for daring to make us late due to a mere blizzard!

here in AMERICA we have good public transportation. Except for the fact that it sucks for high schol students ...like me...the buses are like trained to run just as we get out of school

Where the hell do you live? Busses at my school give us like 10 minutes to get out of school then leave. Only problem is with at least 20 busses, mine has at least 10 seats with 3 kids in them, and it's been that way for at least the past 3 years...

Of course the are district decisions, so can't really blame it on the US in general, just the head of your school district.

Well, I am highly surprised that the Argentine commuters would set their train alight. Here in Auckland, our public transit system is crap - the railway rolling stock is of an age where they belong in a museum, and the worst offenders, the ADK units always seem to be breaking down and causing infinite delays on the Eastern and Southern Lines. The buses are to some degree better, however, what really lets them down is their inability to keep to schedule, and the lack of frequency in many areas.

In spite of all that, I have never been tempted to set an ADK unit on fire.

Public wha? The idea is incomprehensible here.

public transportation ?!?!?! i dont know never take it I just drive my H1 everywhere. even down the street to 7-11 anything else would be unAmerican.

I have a car, so I don't need public transportation.

I have car, so I don't need public transportation.
Fiddlebottoms notice you no have grammar though.

I take the bus. The COTA method is to swamp high street with Number 2's in the morning, and abandon all other buses, as such, I take the ten minutes to walk to High and take the 2, rather than wait, like, a half hour, for the 4.

Fiddlebottoms notice you no have grammar though.

I forgot the 'a'. Its there now.

Considering it would cost a good $3,000 per year all things considered to keep a car on campus, hell yeah I use public transportation.

Considering it would cost a good $3,000 per year all things considered to keep a car on campus, hell yeah I use public transportation.

are you serious. my campus is 50 dollars for a parking sticker.

are you serious. my campus is 50 dollars for a parking sticker.

Well, unless you want to park out in West Campus and take a 15-30 minute bus ride to and from class, the only real option available is the overpriced garage parking in the middle of campus (there are some other surface lots, but they're snapped up so quickly it's almost impossible to get them unless you wait for a while). Those spots will set you back around $1,200/year.

Plus, your insurance skyrockets and there are some other fees and stuff once you relocate to Columbus, which contributes the other chunk of the $3,000/year or so of costs.

Overall, not a good deal unless you've got your own apartment with parking (or sublet) and a steady job.

Well, unless you want to park out in West Campus and take a 15-30 minute bus ride to and from class, the only real option available is the overpriced garage parking in the middle of campus (there are some other surface lots, but they're snapped up so quickly it's almost impossible to get them unless you wait for a while). Those spots will set you back around $1,200/year.

Plus, your insurance skyrockets and there are some other fees and stuff once you relocate to Columbus, which contributes the other chunk of the $3,000/year or so of costs.

Overall, not a good deal unless you've got your own apartment with parking (or sublet) and a steady job.

damn that sucks. do what we did and protest until they make the parking garages free and agree to build more. Only took 2 days

I should point out that the vast, vast, vast majority of trains I've got in England have been spot on time.

Vast.

I'm not going to deny that, but do you mind when they are late?

Going to have to strongly disagree there.

Japanese Public Trans, particularly rail, is infamously very good on both points.

If a JR train is 1 minute off schedule, the station attendants get on the PA and apologise profusely.

I should have put in the disclaimer in my experience. Therefore yeah maybe the Japanese are like that and I won't say other wise until I experience otherwise. So in my experience the best public transport service I have ever been on was in Bavaria (in accordance with the post you quoted me on). All Australian public transport services (that I have experienced) are pretty bad, unless you are in Melbourne in the CBD and nearby suburbs as the trams services every time I have been there have been good.

It's okay in Cologne, but I always had this theory (when I lived at my parents) that the busses were not really on time but actually 10 minutes late - you just don't notice this because a bus was scheduled to come every 10 minutes. Well, it seemed to be true when I had to take the first bus in the morning in one occasion.

Oh, and let's not talk about the horror that's the 'Schnellbus' (between Solingen and Cologne)... it always was late. It was late so predicatably that I factorerd it in when using it.

So the old joke is true than. "When a train is 5 minutes late in Germany the locals hold their head in shame and wonder what the country is coming to, when the a train is 5 minutes late in Britain they breath a sigh of relief and are thankful that it nearly on time"

Really you don't mind if it it only a few minutes late? Maybe I just have high standards and expect them to arrive when they say they will. I understand there will be some problems such as traffic disruptions like crashes, or for a train some guy holds up the train or something. But not every single day on almost every route.

I love when people complain about stuff like this, because it's so ridiculous. It used to be that train schedules and the like were nothing more than a suggestion, a vague general outline, and trains would regularly be HOURS late.

Nowadays the system works so well that they're only a couple minutes or so off schedule here and there, and you're too impatient to wait? :rolleyes:

Trains in Brisbane on my line generally run to schedule which is great. Buses, on the other hand, well, it's kind of hit and miss. But then again, we are one of the fastest growing cities in Australia and are having a hard time growing our infrastructure to meet demand.

I don't like the ticketing system though - it sucks that you can get booked and fined just because there is no guard at the station to buy tickets off and you have no small change.

I love when people complain about stuff like this, because it's so ridiculous. It used to be that train schedules and the like were nothing more than a suggestion, a vague general outline, and trains would regularly be HOURS late.

Nowadays the system works so well that they're only a couple minutes or so off schedule here and there, and you're too impatient to wait? :rolleyes:

Yes I am to impatient to wait, especially when it is all the bloody time if they say the route starts at this location at this time I want it to start at this location at this time not 5 minutes later not an hour later at the time they said they would be. It's not like we can just hang around for half an hour because we have nothing better to do but we may have to be somewhere by a certain time and we take the service that says we will be there by this time. I don't care how things used to be, I don't care that there once was a time where planes once used to have to stop 3 times to go halfway around the world and take over a day to do it. If that happened now they would be justifiably outrage and bitterness towards the airline. [/rant]

Oh, and another word re: negativity, despite stories that are presumably marketed to car owners that London's public transport is ridiculously expensive it is actually very reasonable if you have an oyster card. And if you don't, you've only got yourself to blame.

I agree on this point entirely. Transport in London (assuming you have Oyster) is cheap. Previously Iived along hte south coast and the fares there were vastly more expensive than London, and the standards (both in terms of frequency, reliability and the age of vehicles) was way below London.

I disagree when it comes to the quality of transport, though, at least regarding the DLR. Basically the only reason it was built was because the government at the time was too tight fisted to do the job of connecting Docklands properly, and building a new tube line, an the interchange at Tower Gateway is terrible, and Bank was a bad choice there just isn't the capacity at that station to handle it.

LT should have built a deep station that properly links into Tower Hill, then extended that to Charing Cross (using the old Jubilee line platforms there), with an intermediate station at Bank-Monument, spreading the load between the stations, and providing more interchanges. Having all DLR services that run into the centre use one route with multiple stations would also avoid the problem now that people on the Beckton branch have to change services, as Tower Gateway is a poor interchange. The end result is they change at Canning and use the Jubilee instead, putting more stress on that line, whilst Tower Gateway is under-used most of the time.

I'm not going to deny that, but do you mind when they are late?

What, when one in twenty trains is five minutes late?

Of course not, these things happen. Five minutes doesn't make much of a difference. Hell, I've had times when the train's departed late, but still arrived at the destination early.

What, when one in twenty trains is five minutes late?

Of course not, these things happen. Five minutes doesn't make much of a difference. Hell, I've had times when the train's departed late, but still arrived at the destination early.

Well I am glad that yours are not so unreliable I am talking about 1 in three are always late. I don't mind every now and then stuff happens but when it is on a continuous basis then that is a different story.

When I lived in France the public transit was quite good. I rode the bus every day and it was rarely late. I rode the train quite often and don't remember it ever being very late, although I do recall once I was on a train that broke down for over an hour.

At home the public transit is improving. My town bought a bunch of buses and is creating a city bus network. Still, it's too unreliable and slow so I'll stilld rive when I go home.

I've travelled all around Europe by public transport. I've never had any problems. I mean, sure, some times they've been 5-10 minutes late, but come on, nobody's perfect.

I don't like the ticketing system though - it sucks that you can get booked and fined just because there is no guard at the station to buy tickets off and you have no small change.

lol; that is what I like about Auckland's system, we have good ole fashioned conductors coming around clipping tickets, and giving change for 20s. It is always funny to see about ten hands in the same place, with ten-trip tickets in them and the conductor going around clipping them.