Except with buses you're limited to their schedule, still have to drive to and then wait around in a terminal with all of your stuff, deal with tickets, and then you're crammed into a bus with a bunch of random strangers with all their noises and smells. It's a much more involved and stressful situation than climbing into your own private vehicle at a time of your own choosing and not seeing another soul until you're at your destination.
Many people want privacy and control over the vehicle they're in, and will pay a premium for it. When you take a bus you're sharing it with random people, can't stop to take a break whenever you want, and can't go directly door to door.
Trains can be a superior alternative depending on what country you're in. In the U.S. we're far behind some other countries in high speed rail infrastructure, so over long distances trains are usually slower than driving.
One of the missing points: convenience. Taking a bus "feels" like less of a hassle. Nobody likes having to deal with authorities (check-in people, the TSA). Taking a bus means you have more control over the terms of your trip.
While raw time-to-destination is important, people are also looking for emotional expenditure savings too.
If travel times, cost, and availability were actually equal, you'd pick public transit every time, because you don't have to focus on the cognitively stressful task of operating a motor vehicle.
Sounds like a case of projection. Most people aren't especially intimidated by driving, and quite a few actually enjoy it. Far fewer people enjoy being packed onto a crowded bus or train with strangers (and those are the ones who inevitably sit next to me.)
When people have the option to drive, and the money to do so, they usually prefer to.
I ride the bus every day and honestly, if it's not crowded, it's usually more comfortable than sitting in a car. You don't have to strike up conversation with anyone or anything either. You can usually bust out your laptop too. I sometimes avoid taking the express buses to work because I know I'll get a seat on the local bus, even if it takes an extra 10 mins.
My biggest issue is I systematically underestimate the time it takes me to get to the stop (I use bus trackers and leave with the minimum amount of time required to make it to the stop), so I often end up running or sometimes barely miss the bus.
Idk where you live but all buses I have seen have no expectation of privacy, a bunch of people sitting inside, a driver and usually cameras. If you do... things... you must be insane and also cops meet you at the next stop.
If you live in suburban wasteland with crappy transportation then sure you need a car and I am sorry if you have to share one. But here in the city carsh is pointless. Taxi/bus/rail is for people who can do something better with their time than operate machinery.
Having grown up with excellent public transportation outside the US, I can tell you I'd much rather ride a car than ever enter a bus again. Public transportation is great when it allows me to skip traffic (subway), but buses are just worse versions of cars; in theory I could be reading while in the bus, but in practice there is too much vibration for me to read comfortably. Also, you have to share a seat with a random person, waste time waiting for the bus (and inefficient routes depending on where you're going) and often deal with crowds.
To take a bus from point A to point B, I have to walk to point C, wait for the bus, get on, wait to be dropped of at point D, cross the intersection to point E, wait for a transfer bus, get on, wait to be dropped off at point F, and finally walk to point B.
With this system I call a cab, wait for it at point A, get on, get dropped of at point B. Rather than my time being fragmented into 3 periods of walking interspersed with 4 periods of waiting, it is just 2 periods of waiting, which makes it much easier to make use of the time. In my experience riding buses, only about a third of the time spent is usable (except for long distance commuter routes), while nearly all the time spent in a cab is usable.
Even if the shared cab took a bit longer than a bus, I would still choose it over a bus for the improved productivity / enjoyment.
Yeah, seriously, I don’t get this. I understand the argument that commuting to the airport, security theater etc is a huge pain. And maybe sleeping on the bus would be nice. But I would only take the bus as an alternative if it’s also cheaper than the flight. Otherwise, it seems like the tradeoffs cancel each other out.
Well it's nice you can't handle it. But in an actual practical sense public transit makes large cities possible. It's more efficient and for people who are used to it not a stressful endeavor if it's actually managed properly.
In smaller cities with less congestion it's much easier to keep the busses running on schedule. I took the bus every day when I was in college and it was like clockwork, but that was in a modest town with low population density. The situation gets worse in a hurry when you're in the middle of Manhattan on roads that were originally laid out for horses.
I vastly prefer these busses to air travel for routes like New York to Boston. Lots of space, lots of comfort, Internet, power, nobody groping my body (at least not anybody in uniform), don't have to undress or wait in long lines, and probably 10x more eco-friendly.
I feel like a big part of this is just affordability -- at a time when more and more people are struggling financially, busses are a more attractive option in terms of cost than flights in lots of cases. Simple as that
reply