13 Replies to “Riding Mass Transit Is Like Inviting 20 Random Hitchhikers Into Your Car”
I’m more concerned about situations like what happened yesterday to riders on the on the Toronto Go Train, who were made to wait in their seats for seven hours while they were “evacuated” from the train in rubber dinghies, because of flooding brought on by 3 1/2 inches of rain.
Naturally, the officious caretakers of a nanny state mass transit could not allow passengers to make their own judgement as to whether or not it would be safe to wade to safety.
I would hate to be kept like a ward of a state, without the freedom to go home or to determine whether or not to get my feet wet. Who knows, there may have been a real danger, but I doubt it. The fact is, when you ride transit, because of liability issues, you don’t get to decide when or how to act in an emergency; you must perforce surrender your freedom for the duration of the ride.
I can certainly understand why the folks who manage the transit system would not want to risk allowing people to act on their own, but what a hellish situation that would be to get caught in.
Just yesterday I was riding the Ctrain in Calgary, and I realised what a gross calumny and dinsult to Calgarians this lousy meme is. I might add that we are staying with friends who with their his and hers F150s are the ultimate in automotive independence. Even they, in this sprauling Prairie city, use and recommend public transport for the city core.
Yes, Ms. McMillan, as we rode on the clean and modern coaches, with orderly and law-abiding Calgarians, I thought that they really should launch a class-action lawsuit for libel against you.
Fortunately for you, very few of them have ever heard of you.
Oh yes – if you ever go to New York, public transport is the best way to get around it.
Mr. Lewis, if forcing free citizens out of their cars and onto union-controlled public transit were not the ultimate utopian goal of every leftist community planner, this theme would not exist.
@John Lewis:
You’re right, the Calgary light rail is pretty nice, provided you want to go downtown.
I’ll admit that I don’t have experience of the New York transit. However, I’ve had plenty of experience of The Washington DC transit, as well as some experience of the transit systems in Chicago and Philadelphia, PA. I never took the bus in Milwaukee.
Here’s my recommendation to you: next time you’re in DC, why not take the metro? At a reasonable time, of course, like 7 pm. You can start off from someplace nice and touristy – say Friendship Heights in Bethesda. Take the red line to Chinatown, and hop on the green line south-east. Maybe hop out to check out the platform in Deanwood….
When you return from that, let me know if you still feel the same way about public transit.
Haha, how do you counter the fact that riding mass transit is like inviting random hitchhikers into your car?
For that matter, so is riding, disarmed, on those flying contraptions.
Some hitchhikers are really nice people.
With lice.
Problem with riding mass transit is that it forces you to rub elbows with the dregs of society, as well as with decent people. And you don’t get to pick.
Of course, liberals see no harm in that, being of the dregs themselves.
I also find this theme of continually denigrating public transit banal. I am very much to the right in my thinking and doing. I’m 71 years old and have used public transit all over including Chicago on the south side and ridden a bus through Camden NJ. I use transit everywhere in Vancouver and could not imagine having a city without it. If it is left wing planners controlling the routes , let them continue doing it.
Remarkable: Individuals defensive about public transit. I rode it for years in San Francisco with interesting [not in a good way] and potentially fatal incidents occurring about quarterly. After relocating, St. Louis public transit incidents were about monthly and sometimes more frequent than that as one would expect. I was starting over after a divorce and had no choice. After a few years and a couple of promotions, I bought a gorgeous Olds Tornado Trofeo, signed up for monthly parking in a covered garage and returned to safety and sanity. Kate is right on the money, as usual.
After watching all the people on Toronto GO transit huddling half the night while their “rescuers” frigged about following all the union rules with teeny wee boats, I’m of the opinion that John Lewis is -wrong-.
Sorry John, it took them seven hours to “rescue” people from water you could walk through. There’s pictures of people walking in it. I’m not placing my life in the hands of such fools if I can avoid it.
3.5 inches of rain you say? http://www.cp24.com/polopoly_fs/1.1359138!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_960/image.jpg
I think you must be referring to something else that is 3.5 inches.
But seriously… one person out of the tens of millions who rides transit every day gets stabbed and you guys have a hissy fit? Roughly 2800 people die in car crashes every year in Canada. In the US, it’s over 30,000 per year. The risk of death to a car passenger vs a transit passenger is nearly 20 times as high. But hey… don’t let stats get in the way of your opinions. (No wonder Conservatives hate stats.)
I ride public transit regularly, on the South and West sides of Chicago. The quality varies considerably. 99% of your trips will be without incident unless you deliberately ride in the worst possibly areas during the late night. It is nowhere near as bad as people make it out to be. Generally, the bus is the worst, followed by light rail subway, followed by commuter rail. Metra trains are actually pleasant to ride and fast. The subway/L train varies in quality. Generally, the train cars are big enough to let you keep distance from any troublemakers. Think of going to a movie theater – you will have varying experiences with the people.
Kate, if you come to Chicago, I’ll buy you a CTA and Metra pass so you can experience it for yourself.
I’m more concerned about situations like what happened yesterday to riders on the on the Toronto Go Train, who were made to wait in their seats for seven hours while they were “evacuated” from the train in rubber dinghies, because of flooding brought on by 3 1/2 inches of rain.
Naturally, the officious caretakers of a nanny state mass transit could not allow passengers to make their own judgement as to whether or not it would be safe to wade to safety.
I would hate to be kept like a ward of a state, without the freedom to go home or to determine whether or not to get my feet wet. Who knows, there may have been a real danger, but I doubt it. The fact is, when you ride transit, because of liability issues, you don’t get to decide when or how to act in an emergency; you must perforce surrender your freedom for the duration of the ride.
I can certainly understand why the folks who manage the transit system would not want to risk allowing people to act on their own, but what a hellish situation that would be to get caught in.
Just yesterday I was riding the Ctrain in Calgary, and I realised what a gross calumny and dinsult to Calgarians this lousy meme is. I might add that we are staying with friends who with their his and hers F150s are the ultimate in automotive independence. Even they, in this sprauling Prairie city, use and recommend public transport for the city core.
Yes, Ms. McMillan, as we rode on the clean and modern coaches, with orderly and law-abiding Calgarians, I thought that they really should launch a class-action lawsuit for libel against you.
Fortunately for you, very few of them have ever heard of you.
Oh yes – if you ever go to New York, public transport is the best way to get around it.
Mr. Lewis, if forcing free citizens out of their cars and onto union-controlled public transit were not the ultimate utopian goal of every leftist community planner, this theme would not exist.
@John Lewis:
You’re right, the Calgary light rail is pretty nice, provided you want to go downtown.
I’ll admit that I don’t have experience of the New York transit. However, I’ve had plenty of experience of The Washington DC transit, as well as some experience of the transit systems in Chicago and Philadelphia, PA. I never took the bus in Milwaukee.
Here’s my recommendation to you: next time you’re in DC, why not take the metro? At a reasonable time, of course, like 7 pm. You can start off from someplace nice and touristy – say Friendship Heights in Bethesda. Take the red line to Chinatown, and hop on the green line south-east. Maybe hop out to check out the platform in Deanwood….
When you return from that, let me know if you still feel the same way about public transit.
Haha, how do you counter the fact that riding mass transit is like inviting random hitchhikers into your car?
For that matter, so is riding, disarmed, on those flying contraptions.
Some hitchhikers are really nice people.
With lice.
Problem with riding mass transit is that it forces you to rub elbows with the dregs of society, as well as with decent people. And you don’t get to pick.
Of course, liberals see no harm in that, being of the dregs themselves.
I also find this theme of continually denigrating public transit banal. I am very much to the right in my thinking and doing. I’m 71 years old and have used public transit all over including Chicago on the south side and ridden a bus through Camden NJ. I use transit everywhere in Vancouver and could not imagine having a city without it. If it is left wing planners controlling the routes , let them continue doing it.
And no matter how badly you have to go, do not pee on the third rail.
Man electrocuted urinating on subway tracks
Remarkable: Individuals defensive about public transit. I rode it for years in San Francisco with interesting [not in a good way] and potentially fatal incidents occurring about quarterly. After relocating, St. Louis public transit incidents were about monthly and sometimes more frequent than that as one would expect. I was starting over after a divorce and had no choice. After a few years and a couple of promotions, I bought a gorgeous Olds Tornado Trofeo, signed up for monthly parking in a covered garage and returned to safety and sanity. Kate is right on the money, as usual.
After watching all the people on Toronto GO transit huddling half the night while their “rescuers” frigged about following all the union rules with teeny wee boats, I’m of the opinion that John Lewis is -wrong-.
Sorry John, it took them seven hours to “rescue” people from water you could walk through. There’s pictures of people walking in it. I’m not placing my life in the hands of such fools if I can avoid it.
3.5 inches of rain you say?
http://www.cp24.com/polopoly_fs/1.1359138!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_960/image.jpg
I think you must be referring to something else that is 3.5 inches.
But seriously… one person out of the tens of millions who rides transit every day gets stabbed and you guys have a hissy fit? Roughly 2800 people die in car crashes every year in Canada. In the US, it’s over 30,000 per year. The risk of death to a car passenger vs a transit passenger is nearly 20 times as high. But hey… don’t let stats get in the way of your opinions. (No wonder Conservatives hate stats.)
I ride public transit regularly, on the South and West sides of Chicago. The quality varies considerably. 99% of your trips will be without incident unless you deliberately ride in the worst possibly areas during the late night. It is nowhere near as bad as people make it out to be. Generally, the bus is the worst, followed by light rail subway, followed by commuter rail. Metra trains are actually pleasant to ride and fast. The subway/L train varies in quality. Generally, the train cars are big enough to let you keep distance from any troublemakers. Think of going to a movie theater – you will have varying experiences with the people.
Kate, if you come to Chicago, I’ll buy you a CTA and Metra pass so you can experience it for yourself.