Discussion»Questions»Transportation» What's the public transport system like in your neck of the woods? How does it compare to other places you've been?
Sorry to hear that. It's pretty great in Sydney (even though we, naturally, complain about it). I was on the west coast a few years ago and found that, by contrast, theirs is appalling.
its not bad but it could be better. metro vancouver cities south of the river have always been neglected when it comes to public transportation. it sucks that buses only come every 20 minutes where i am and then some routs stop running at 9:30pm which sucks even more. but unlike most people, i don't have an issue with bus wait times and transfers because i always plan my day ahead of time.
the bus drivers are very consistent with keeping up with the schedule and the times that they're suppose to drive past each stop. i give them props for that.
This post was edited by Skunky Stinkerson at January 30, 2017 5:35 PM MST
Sounds as though they're pretty good. I rew up on a bus route but have lived on a rain line for the past 53 years. They're lots better but when there's a major problem EVERYTHING stops.
the new mayor of Surrey is pushing for an LRT (light rail rapid transit) rather than a skytrain expansion from Surrey Central to Langley Centre which will cause even more gridlock and problems down that particular corridor (gridlock is already a problem) and yet, she wants to add to it with her glorified bus on tracks. the mayor of Langley wants a Skytrain out here cuz travel times, speed, and reliability is far greater.
This post was edited by Skunky Stinkerson at January 30, 2017 5:52 PM MST
Some genius came up with the idea of putting trams through central Sydney. They've disrupted everything and will continue to do so for a couple of years till the thing is complete. Then they'll continue to take up a good part of the road and block traffic. They call it a "light rail service" but a tram, is a tram, is a pain in the butt.
in my opinion, Light rail is obsolete (for major cities and metro areas) and causes unneeded problems everywhere its layed out. its a stupid idea to implement such a system in any dense city.
This post was edited by Skunky Stinkerson at January 30, 2017 11:49 PM MST
Virtually the entire population of Sydney will agree with you, Skunky. We tore up the last of our tramlines in the 1960s Now some moron wants to put them back. And there's a hell of a lot more vehicular traffic on the roads than there was 50-60 years ago.
The bus system is actually quite good - largely due to the O-Bahn. There were plans to expand it but then the government changed. Conservatives don't ride buses so they built an expressway for cars in that corridor instead. The trains are a joke and so is the tram.
Conservatives, by whatever name, will always opt for that sort of "solution". They're the same the world over.
In Oz, our conservatives call themselvfes the Liberal Party. A misnomer and an attempt to win the popular vote. They're about as Liberal as the American Tea Party.
I know that, I live in Adelaide (grew up in Sydney's outer west, Blue Mountains). The Bannon Labor government spent many years and millions of dollars acquiring a land corridor from Darlington to Noarlunga, in the southern suburbs if Adelaide, to build a second guided busway to complement the norteastern one (I live a stone's throw from that). Then Dean Brown's Libs got elected, and they shit-canned the southern O-Bahn and built an expressway instead. Too narrow, so it was one way reversible for several years until the next Labor government acquired more land to widen it (since the road had already been built).
The closest city that has bus service is about 30 miles away but it only runs Monday through Friday 6:00 - 18:00 and if you want to use it you have to call them one business day in advance to schedule your ride. It won't come to my house because I'm too far away.
It's not really a bus it's more like something in between a van and a bus.
The city that's 30 miles away does have an airport and there's a morning flight and an afternoon flight to and from Denver on Monday through Saturday. I think it costs $125.00 to fly to Denver and back.
That's the closest thing to public transportation here.
We have a ticket for old people that, for $2.50/day, allows them to travel anywhere within a range of about 200 km. Younger people have to pay the full fare, of course, and it ain't cheap.
The bus services are generally good where I live, but some parts of the area are more poorly served.
Reasonable rail services, should I wish to visit London, Southampton or places in between. Bath and Bristol too, though with far fewer trains on that route.
However, more rural areas not ever so far from me have little or no public transport.
The irony with replacing former tram services with new ones, as posts above mention, is that no-one seems to have thought to re-introduce trolley-buses instead. Admittedly they need a somewhat unsightly two-wire overhead system with its extra servicing and maintenance costs, but do not need rails in the road-ways, and are better able to cope with gradients above about 1 in 40.
I remember seeing both trams and trolley-buses in a French town (I can't recall which) in the mid-1970s. The trams operated along the flatter streets, then the trolley-buses worked on the steeper routes where the town was built up a hill-side. The S English town of Bournemouth, which lies in a set of valleys, used trolley-buses only into the 1960s.
Their advantage of course is in not needing rails!
righty1 