3 ms·

What's so terrible about Bay Area transit? I mean this genuinely since I've never been to San Francisco so I've never used it, and I'm wondering why it makes yo

What's so terrible about Bay Area transit? I mean this genuinely since I've never been to San Francisco so I've never used it, and I'm wondering why it makes you think all American public transit is bad. I've used public transit in two North American cities, Chicago and Montreal, and they seemed to work fairly well, enough that I could kind of enjoy them if I wasn't in a rush (which typically I wasn't since these were vacations). Maybe they weren't as pretty as what I saw in Tokyo or Beijing, but they functioned fine and didn't seem terrible in the least.

godot 9y ago
I could be wrong about generalizing it to America in general, since I don't have much experience outside of SF Bay and a little bit in NY (where I also didn't have a pleasant experience, even as a tourist). Trains in Hong Kong and Tokyo are at the very least clean, on time, for the most part crime-less, and no matter what time you arrive, even if you miss a train, there will be another one to your destination within 5 minutes (likely 2 minutes). Bart is rarely on time, extremely unclean (encountering human feces is almost a regular basis), crime-ridden (as shown in that link above), and if you live anywhere outside of SF, missing a train usually means you have to wait 15-20 minutes for the next one (even during peak hours). I consciously choose to drive in to SF downtown instead, even considering the premium I have to pay for parking (easily $20 a day), and enduring through bay bridge traffic. I know I'm also doing harm by carbon emission and adding to traffic on the freeways and bridge, but it poses a personal risk (both physical danger and health) to take Bart for myself.
ginko 9y ago
This pretty much mirrors my experience. I've also been to SF a bunch of times and never had any issues taking the local transit(bus, subway, BART, tram, etc.). Sure it isn't sparkling clean, but seems to do its job. The bus network in particular seemed pretty good.
ACow_Adonis 9y ago
Only been to San Fran once briefly. But my impression of Bart during that time was: -infrequent -loud: this one surprised me, the noise of the wheel screeches were another level of audible compared to the public transport I was used to. - poverty: SanFran poverty and destitution was just on another level, and a significant amount of that seemed located around some of the stations. - network coverage:so tiny and doesn't cover much. That being said, my impression talking to the locals was that commuting in/out of SanFran by car had become a nightmare as well :/
reaperducer 9y ago
My experience with SF transit is that it's simply overused. People love it -- to death. There isn't enough of it, and enough maintenance, to keep up with the demand. The entire system suffers because of it.

godot 9y ago

I could be wrong about generalizing it to America in general, since I don't have much experience outside of SF Bay and a little bit in NY (where I also didn't have a pleasant experience, even as a tourist). Trains in Hong Kong and Tokyo are at the very least clean, on time, for the most part crime-less, and no matter what time you arrive, even if you miss a train, there will be another one to your destination within 5 minutes (likely 2 minutes). Bart is rarely on time, extremely unclean (encountering human feces is almost a regular basis), crime-ridden (as shown in that link above), and if you live anywhere outside of SF, missing a train usually means you have to wait 15-20 minutes for the next one (even during peak hours). I consciously choose to drive in to SF downtown instead, even considering the premium I have to pay for parking (easily $20 a day), and enduring through bay bridge traffic. I know I'm also doing harm by carbon emission and adding to traffic on the freeways and bridge, but it poses a personal risk (both physical danger and health) to take Bart for myself.

ginko 9y ago

This pretty much mirrors my experience. I've also been to SF a bunch of times and never had any issues taking the local transit(bus, subway, BART, tram, etc.). Sure it isn't sparkling clean, but seems to do its job. The bus network in particular seemed pretty good.

ACow_Adonis 9y ago

Only been to San Fran once briefly. But my impression of Bart during that time was: -infrequent -loud: this one surprised me, the noise of the wheel screeches were another level of audible compared to the public transport I was used to. - poverty: SanFran poverty and destitution was just on another level, and a significant amount of that seemed located around some of the stations. - network coverage:so tiny and doesn't cover much. That being said, my impression talking to the locals was that commuting in/out of SanFran by car had become a nightmare as well :/

reaperducer 9y ago

My experience with SF transit is that it's simply overused. People love it -- to death. There isn't enough of it, and enough maintenance, to keep up with the demand. The entire system suffers because of it.