Public Transport

[Lyrebird]

Public transport, an important stable to our daily lives has always been a hot topic for voters and governments since it affects everybody around the world. How would you rate your public transportation systems and how do you feel they could be better developed in your area?

Public Transport includes:
- Trains
- Buses
- Trams
- Light rain
- Ferries

for example.

 

[henrymidfields]

Reply - Sydney Trains

I know Sydney's trains used to be really unreliable, at least when I first visited in 2003. While delays are still heard of occasionally, it has become much better - when it is delayed, there's a good chance that they have some good reasons. At least the New South Wales State Government now seem to start taking public transport more seriously. Unfortunately, there is quite a bit of money that needs to be spent, as there were more focus on road/freeway construction until the 1990s-2000s.

A 10km extension in the southwestern outskirts have recently opened, which I've put to good use. I take the first 10km by train from my house, and drive the remaining 10km. I leave my car at the station carpark overnight (except for Friday-Monday) - it is in the middle of farmland, so there isn't much worry in terms of hooligans for the time being - until when the surrounding area gets developed later on. It is still 30-min frequency, though, so I can't miss my train in the morning - understandable given the area, but somewhat annoying.

The next train extension (currently under construction; due for completion 2018-20) is what they call the North West Rail Link. Eventually, after they build that, they'll build a rail tunnel into the city to separate that route from the rest of the network, and to allow 4-6min frequency on that particular line. Evenutally, that part will be privatized, which is more feasible than the mess Melbourne has with at least two private operators on one set of publicly-owned tracks - although I am not a huge fan for privatisation. (Reason being, I don't believe that privatization necessarily provides a better service, unless it is accompanied by a strong customer-service-oriented culture.)

As for my home town, Tokyo, well, let's just say that I do miss the convenience of it.

 

[CrackFox]

I can't really say much about this since the only forms of public transport I use are taxis and the bus. Both of those are run reliably in my experience. Buses in my area are regular and recently they've been fitted with CCTV cameras and modernised. People often complain about public transport but my experience with it has always been quite pleasant really.

 

[Rose_et_Reine]

There is no public transportation in the town that I am currently residing, which does not help me out at all. I had always lived in the city, and could get around by bus. But being here, where I am now, I am unable to move from place to place with ease. The only thing that you can use here is a car. It's all about cars here, and I really don't like that. Some of us, don't care for driving, and would rather use the transportation system that the government provides. Provision that as I said, non existent.

The only way that you can get around is by contacting a Taxi service, or, a service known as Carts, that you have to call the day before (and only on weekdays!) to let them know that you want to use their services. They'll come and pick you up, and take you to your destination. This is what I know about the service, as I have never used it myself, nor am I going to.

Can't wait to start living in a city again, whenever God tells me to do so.

 

[Silverwynde]

I live in Wisconsin and in the Fox Valley. But because I live closer to Oshkosh than Appleton, our public transportation is extremely limited. The buses here only run until 6pmand the routes are very limited. Appleton has better coverage and more routes but since I don't live there, it doesn't really help me.

I'd really have to rate our public transportation as a three out of ten. It needs some massive improvements, really.

 

[97SaturnSL1]

The bus stops in our area are few in between and the clientle is not the best. but its not nearly as bad as Cleveland

 

[Lysson]

If they were cheaper I'd use them more often. Since moving to the city the prices haven't been too bad but if I want to travel outside of the city the prices are stupid.

The transport itself is pretty good as I live near several bus stops and am in walking distance of a train station.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Oh, it's pretty bad here (Santiago, Chile). But I'm not sure if just "as bad as every overpopulated city". People here tend to dramatize as if we live in the worst place in the world.

Eight years ago the bus system was completely revamped. Most people say the current system is much worse, but I disagree. I mean, it's not good, but the previous system was terrible, you never knew when the bus was coming, there weren't bus stops (you raised your hand wherever you are, and pray for the bus to stop), the machines were deteriorated and noisy, and holding a rechargeable card instead of the exact coins for the ticket is much, much more comfortable. But people miss the old system because they were used to it (I wasn't; I arrived here ten years ago). Although the new system brings two problems: One, it relies too much on the subway, and two, paths are shorter and often you need to switch buses. But you don't even have to pay the second and third bus, so meh. Trips are expensive, however, over US$1 for a third world country.

The subway is good (I went to Paris in 2005 and Santiago's subway was much better), but certain lines are heavily overused and the coverage is still limited. There are more lines projected for the next 2 years, finally one of them near my home (yay!).

The big problem here, is that the city growth has been misplaned for 60-70 years, making a decent public transport system a nearly impossible task. The whole economic activity is concentrated in a limited zone, so guess where are the jams everyday at 8 AM. And then a billionaire comes and puts a 300 m office building in the heart of this zone; the opening has been delayed multiple times because everyone is scared of the traffic it will cause. And everyone is like "Public transport sucks, so I'll do all my efforts to buy my own car (and help another bit to collapse)".

 

[Lt Surge]

I used public transporation one time where I currently live at. I took the trolley (street train) in order to go to a restaurant and meet some friends for drinks. During the ride people who looked like they were on drugs kept talking really loud and as the train went through downtown several drunk people got on board. One person was even smoking inside of the train (there were signs posted prohibiting this).
My brother in law regularly takes the bus here and a few months back he got robbed when he was going home from work. Overall it isn't a safe experience. Whenever I go drinking now I just use Lyft or Uber.

 

[Pikochu]

I currently work at a public transportation company in my collegetown as an intern so I do have a general sense how things would work. But first my personal experience.

At my hometown, there's one bus line that is very reliable on weekdays but on weekends, terrible service. Also, because everything is so far away from each other, it makes taking public transportation so long. Even though the bus company tries its best to do its best with the sprawl, I would personally take a car to get around my region in general. I do my best try not to whine about not having a car during the summer time when I am at home and try to do things on the weekdays, but lets face it, I hate having to rely on public transit and having to ask for rides with friends. I would much rather have my own car so I don't have to depend on rides. I probably should have taken the bus more while I had my car as much as I can such as going into downtown. Like I said, the bus line near my home comes fairly often on weekdays but not often enough on weekends.

Where I go to school, the bus is pretty much life. Because of the layout of the city that isn't car friendly, taking the bus wouldn't take much longer than just driving. Plus, the bus comes often enough to get from the school to downtown and with a transfer, to the mall. However, if I needed to go to work at the bus company, it's only once an hour from downtown which makes it a pain to schedule my shifts. Though I guess a 20 minute walk outside of downtown isn't that bad so I don't complain.

As an intern at a public transportation company, funding is a big issue. People want to take it but we don't have the funding. And lets not even get involved trying to work with other transportation company to work together. I mean, most people work in other counties that would require cooperation from one or more transit agency because of jurisdiction issues. And sure, it would be simple, but it's just so much red tape that gets involved and time consuming.

That's just my experience and I would love to continue to work in such an interesting industry.

 

[Muur]

Terrible. Always late, a lot of the time just chooses not to turn up.

Since I use it to get to and from work... it presents a lot of problems.

 

[Alexey]

I try to use subway whenever I can to avoid traffic.
Unfortunately, when your geographical center of the city is a big island only connected with the rest of the city with 4 bridges and that only has 2 subway stations, problems are inevitable.

The buses and trams are all stuck in the same traffic as the cars are, so when rush hours are unavoidable, I go with the subway, even though it physically can't handle all the passengers that are trying to go through it.

One of said two subway station is going to be closed for renovation in a month. The island is going to be in a blockade.

Attachment gives context

 

[indigohex]

Re: Reply - Sydney Trains

I live in Melbourne and our public transport network was privatised by the Kennett Government back in the 1990s (even though V/Line has since reverted to government ownership). Every weekday, I travel on the Sunbury line to get to and from university (I start at Watergardens and get off at North Melbourne). We had two train operators between 1999 and 2004 with Hillside Trains (later Connex) operating the Clifton Hill (Epping [now South Morang] and Hurstbridge) and Burnley groups of lines (Lilydale, Belgrave, Alamein and Glen Waverley lines) while Bayside Trains (later M>Train) had the Northern and Caulfield groups of lines. In 2004, Connex became the sole operator of the trains in Melbourne, and since 2009, Metro Trains (which is 60% owned by Hong Kong-based MTR Corporation) has been operating the network.

There were also two tram operators (Swanston Trams and Yarra Trams, the latter is still around) and two bus operators operating the former government network (Melbourne Bus Link [owned by Dysons and Resevoir Bus Company until 2013] and National Bus Company [from 2004 to 2013 was owned by Ventura Bus Lines]), but Transdev now operates these routes as well as the orbital Smart Bus routes (901, 902 and 903), but these routes are being broken up later this year.

I often get the bus as well to university.

I am not a supporter of privatisation as the main factor of private operators (and in particular multinationals like Transdev) is profits for shareholders. And what is worse, the people of Victoria didn't get a say when Kennett decided to privatise the public transport network. That is just my five cents though.