Bikes, Buses, and Bag Ladies
I've been thinking a little recently about why people don't take public transportation more often.
We all know that automotive transport is one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions. And many of us purport to care strongly about global warming etc. So why do so many people stick to commuting by themselves?
There are plenty of perfectly reasonable answers, and I'll look at a few of them (plus fun anecdotes!) below the fold.
1. Freedom of Mobility
In my opinion, this is the best reason. The communities that most of us live in are constructed in a fashion that is designed for individual automobiles, and not for public transport. Thus the public transportation stops are usually too far away and in very poor shape. In many instances, you have to drive just to get to the bus or train station. I'm lucky to live in a region with a very good bus system, and to have several stops within walking distance of my house. Many people are not. This is too bad, in my opinion
Maybe I should just quickly outline what is meant by public transportation: local buses and trains, primarily, but occasionally such things as taxis or ferries as well.
2. Money
This an excuse I use a lot, being a tightwad like you've never seen, but really it's not a good reason at all. If you think about it, driving a car costs SO much money, from the initial purchase or rent payment, to gas, to insurance, to maintenance and repairs. Overall, using a car for transportation probably costs several thousand dollars each year at the very least. My area's buses cost $1 every ride. So, let's say you take the bus to and from work every day, and then take two trips by bus on each day of the weekend. That's about $920, much less than it costs to use a car.
3. Association with lower social class
This might make some people uncomfortable, but there's nothing unusual about it. I'd venture that the majority of people, from the lowest to the highest standing, all try to avoid appearing less well off than they are. In fact, many middle-class Americans try to appear better off than they are, and that frequently gets them into debt trouble. But there's certainly an association in our society between the use of public transport and being poor. Certainly a lot of low-income people use buses to get around, because like I said before, it's a cheap way to travel. But this is one that has me puzzled. Why is it that in cities around the globe, everyone uses buses and subways to get around: businessmen, socialites, drunks, dropouts, and people of all sorts who are tied to the engines of capitalism, while in other places, there's a notion that you only take public transportation if you can't afford a car? Is hiding behind a status symbol that important to us, even though when you're using it, no one can see you?
That said, I've got some good stories from my bus commuting. I've been riding my bike to work (on the bike path, which my town is quite blessed to have, I'm aware) and taking the bus home every day. Oh, first, one thing about Northampton. There used to be a state mental hospital there, but it closed a few decades ago, and many of the mentally handicapped folk are still bouncing around the town here and there. One of these delightful individuals frequents the bus stop where I wait for my bus. She's a middle-aged lady with a bit of a beard, and sits there at the bus stop gesturing here and there, playing with things she has, such as coffee cups, water bottles filled with cigarette butts, or small empty ziplock bags. She sits there for a while making lots of stuffier folk uncomfortable, then gets up after a while and just walks away. Harmless as far as I can tell, but why wouldn't she be? She's just doing her thing, like anyone else. Her thing just happens to be a little different from what you and I are used to.
On the other end of the spectrum, I've noticed that there are two people who are always on the same bus as me. One of them is a college-age person, and I'd been failing to build up the courage to talk to her until a chance meeting introduced us, and now we chat at the bus stop and on the bus all the time. Turns out she's interning at the local newspaper, rising junior at UMass, from New Delhi, majoring in Journalism and Legal Studies. See what delightful people you can meet by taking public transportation? Can you do that while driving alone in your car?
One thing that I frequently feel the lack of, and I've heard accounts that this is a society-wide issue, is social contact. I've heard that children aren't learning important social skills because they spend too long in front of their TV and computer screens. Why should we isolate ourselves by driving our shiny little personal boxes when we could be interacting with others, if it's something we need to do more of?
Ick. Sorry if this has turned into a rant. Acknowledged, frequently it's difficult to access public transportation. But the more it's used, the more available it will be!