It’s just that the American infrastructure is so far behind. The subway trains are so old, dirty and rundown. Not to mention graffiti everywhere. Much of the NYC Subway system, specifically track switches and signals, is still manually operated, as it still relies on the 100-year-old technology.
Most busses are still combustion engine instead of electric like most of the western world.
The US train infrastructure is an embarrassment. What China build in 20 years in high speed train is insane. The US or in this case California agreed in the same year 2008 to start om a high speed rail network. The 725 miles of track will maybe completed by 2033. In the meantime China build over 15000 km of high speed railway track. The comfort on the trains can’t even compare to air travel. Most Chinese prefer train over air.
I’m far less likely to die on the light rail than my car. But I’m also far less likely to have some guy jacking off in the seat next to me, a homeless guy passed out who pissed himself, or a heroine zombie hanging out in another plane of existence who ends up getting the train delayed by 30m while medics narcan her.
The likelihood of dying on my commute is small. The illnesses and mental gymnastics that go on in the US light rail / subway are pretty nasty and nearly guaranteed on a regular basis.
Another part of this is the disruptive people are more visible on public transport. On a bus you can see two people arguing loudly and feel unsafe from it, whereas on the road those same two people could be arguing just as much and you’d never notice it in your bubble.
The people arguing in the car are more dangerous though because:
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One of them may be driving while operating a vehicle is not the biggest thing on their mind.
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You can’t see that they may be dangerous and move away from them because you don’t know what’s happening
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my car:
- just me
public bus:
- naked stranger touching himself
- methheads
- piss, piss everywhere
- used needles in seats
- drunk guy passed out on the floor of piss and vomit
- truant teens screaming and threatening people
yeah. no, I’ll take the risk of an auto accident in my car.
I like public transit, but I’ve never had a crazy person try to sit on me in my car either.
hah, I’m reading this headline like “I’ve never accidently sat in a puddle of someone else’s piss in my car though so there’s that.”
people way ignore how dangerous driving is. she thinks public transit is dangerous and nothing has ever happened to her in relation to it yet she has been in several auto accidents through her life.
People watch too much TV. I’ve lived in several major cities on multiple continents and a car free for longer than 20 years. I’ve never once felt unsafe on any train, bus, or subway. Flying is far scarier.
Flying on a major airline is exceptionally safe. Regional airlines are quite a bit sketchier, and…vote for me for fascist diaper dictator in 2028 and I’ll put a stop to this: Some Fuck LLC will get a contract from one of the majors and start operating their fleet of Beech 1900s or something painted with “Delta Connection” or similar livery while training crews and maintaining aircraft to nowhere near the standard of the brand on the side of the plane.
I’ve never ever heard anyone say this.
I’ve seen it in TV shows.
Millions of people take mass transit every day. I did for years in different cities.
I’ve seen some crazy stuff, but that’s rare.
Humans are emotional creatures. We’re stupid that way. It’s faster to just go with feelings and accurate enough that it must have been a pro survival trait.
But it’s stupid. It’s destroying the world because people follow their emotions into conservative policies.
Safety is not a concern in my area. The issue is that it takes two to three hours to get just about anywhere that is not a hub, and a high probability of not being able to return to the starting point until the next day.
I took public transit to nyc because I dont want to deal with having a car with me, but I honestly regret it. The only bus back home is at 730am, with a 1 hour train ride to the station (so I need to wake up at 6am to be safe). I need to take another train home, which only runs every 2 hours, an I need to wait an hour. The ride itself is another hour. 8 hours for a trip I could have make in 4 hours, and for nearly half as much in gas compared to fares
The bus fare is fast too, most of the other options habe multiple changes that extend the 4:30 by HOURS. It could take me 10 hours of public transit
I fucking HATEEEE layovers, and changes. Routes and lines that are only ran every couple hours, so EVERY step can easily add an hour or more to a journey
Double the cost of your fuel to get the real cost of running a vehicle.
Where I live I literally would not be able to take public transport to get to my current job, or my current school (both an hour drive away in different counties from where I live, public transport doesn’t cross county lines). I looked into taking public transport to get to my last school when my car broke down, but it would have been about a 5 hour one way trip involving 3 different buses and a 3 mile walk between one of the bus lines in order to go 16 miles (I couldn’t have walked or biked it because it’s all major highways and said highway crosses a river with no pedestrian crossing - that’s miles out of the way). I got a rental car instead.
This is true.
I’ve had way more near-accidents when I’m out on my scooter than I’ve had near-violent incidents on public transit. That said, I’ve had two in three years of riding and you won’t find me out in public without my stungun now.
I’ve had to put way too much energy into convincing Boomer relatives that it’s completely normal to take public transit here in Seattle. It’s (relatively) safe, clean, convenient, and full of other “normal” (which is to say not visibly experiencing some sort of mental health crisis, harassing other riders, etc) people.
Still haven’t gotten my dad on the light rail. The next time he comes, I’m just going to not pick him up from the airport. It’s quicker to take the train!
I’ve been riding public transit daily for over two decades at this point, and I haven’t been killed/mugged/ threatened once. Depending on the time of day you’re riding it can get more sketchy, but standard commuter hours everyone just wants to get from A to B.
I have been threatened and almost mugged but both were at night. I’d still ride you just need situational awareness. It’s less a public transport issue and more my city sucks with dealing with mental health and homelessness.
I blame cop shows and metro movies.
And Spider-Man movies. Always a bus or a subway that has to be saved smh
Three are so many things wrong with this article I don’t even know where to start. In terms of danger from physical bodily injury, I have no reason to doubt this report while traveling on public transport. Though it is also highly dependent on the city and routes you take. It also doesn’t necessarily take into account total commute, which also includes travel on foot to and from transportation hubs. But a majority of crimes and incidents that happen on public transportation are often nuisance and property crimes, and other non-violent offenses. There are also quite a bit of unreported incidents that occur.
What that translates to is that many people still encounter a higher level of incidents on public transportation that make them feel unsafe. In terms of actual physical safety though, if you summarize mass data like they’ve done here then public transportation is still much safer overall. However, that shouldn’t be used like done here to discredit people’s experiences and concerns with public transportation. The goal should be to still work on aggressively on improving people’s actual experience.
The data doesn’t really matter in changing perspectives if people still significantly experience significantly more anxiety and fear by witnessing or experiencing intimidation, verbal hostilities and altercations, property crime and theft, public indecency, drug abuse, and other things that are legitimate reasons for increased anxiety and paranoia.
