Any practical reasons to use public transport instead of a car?

[Az]

160 Euros for a simester for a free ride around an entire county sounds great. sadly this is not the state of things here.

[Q Classic]

at uchicago with the cta, one gets free buses from campus to downtown and around hyde park; 1.80 a trip gets you anywhere one-way in chicago.

[Faboba]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov

Actually, one of my college friends lives in Washington, DC and doesn't own a car and is quite content that way.

Is he unable to drive or is he making a statement?

[Boris Godunov]

He doesn't want to spend the money on a car, gas and parking. He uses the Metro and walks and gets around fine.

[Q Classic]

amen. i'm content at not having a car in chicago.

[Az]

If we had a railnetwork, so would I.

but if the same bus is stuck in traffic, what's the point?

[Eli]

If we had a railnetwork, so would I.

Well, our cities are too small and not dense enough for intra-city rail network. Maybe only in Tel Aviv and the suburbs.

[Az]

Actually, a light rail has been on the paper for a while here. But of course, noone has the issue close enough for his heart to push it through the regional planning committees. The cities are rather small, but are dense, and could support such lanes.

Personally, I only mind about this because of the enviroment. That's why I opened this thread. Because we don't have the traffic problems of Tel Aviv. ( )

[Zkribbler]

There's a first stage smog alert called for Los Angeles today. The AQMD is pointing its finger at high-pollution vehicles like SUVs.

[Az]

For the love of gud I don't know why would anyone drive an SUV:
they're not safe.
They're expensive.
They're far from being the most bang for the buck.
they're polluting.
they're wasting lots of fuel.

If I had the money to by a cool car, I'd buy some sort of sports car instead.

[Wittlich]

Practical reasons for using public transportation?

Have you ever driven in downtown San Francisco!? It isn't a pretty sight. Public Transportation (BART / MUNI) is the way to go!

[Solly]

I agree with Snapcase - maybe I should take a trip over to that suicide thread...

Definitely more social - I owe £1 to some lass who gets the number 12 at the same time as I get it as she had a £10 note which the driver wouldn't give change to. I had a £5 note and four quid coins.

[Urban Ranger]

Public Transportation here is great. Except for the nasty accident we had a couple of days before, bus services are excellent. We also have an extensive subway system, a railway, a light rail, public mini buses, and free shuttle buses at places.

[Proteus_MST]

Originally posted by Azazel
160 Euros for a simester for a free ride around an entire county sounds great. sadly this is not the state of things here.

Yep, it is much cheaper than the normal prices for comparable tickets with a Validity of half a year.
I think if the Public Transportation Companies (especially the DB which is the largest Provider of Train Transporation in Germany) would make likewise offers publicly available, even if it would be somehow more expensive, like 250 or 300 €, it would be a big incentive for many people to make much more use of Trains and the like

[GePap]

Hey Az, what woud be the upfront out of pocket cost of getting a car? OIr di they give cars away in Israel as the did in Panama? (No oney down, not payments for the next year! Yeah, traffic neightmares!)

PT in DC was pretty Good, and the inner city si tiny enoguh that a good hour walk gets you places ( I walked from Georgetown to the LoC in under 1.5 hours).
And yes, in NY the PT is fantastic! Hey Boris, why 7 day ones? 4 *21 = $84 for 7*4=28 days, so why not just $70 for 30?