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Being in the city makes public transport much more useful. At least where I am virtually all public transport lines have one end in the city and one end in the

Being in the city makes public transport much more useful. At least where I am virtually all public transport lines have one end in the city and one end in the suburbs. So if you are in the suburbs you can get to the city and if you are in the city you can get to anywhere.

ghaff 7y ago
Getting from commuter rail stations to suburban locations is often difficult even with Uber/Lyft. In any case, even with relatively good commuter rail--I'm about a 7 minute drive from a station--it's basically useless for evening activities. Outside of rush hour it runs about every 90 minutes. And this is a good commuter rail system.
- Polylactic_acid 7y ago
  At least where I am the bus stop is never more than 30 minutes walking from wherever I want go. If I am visiting a suburb I am never in a rush and a 30 minute walk is quite nice.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    There's effectively no public transit out where I live. I mean, there's some sort of regional transit presumably for poor people who don't own cars but it's not really practical otherwise. The one time I looked on Google Maps, it would have taken me 4 hours to get into the city, including walking along a busy street with no sidewalks, to get to a bus to take a train. And this is about an hour drive.
    - Polylactic_acid 7y ago
      Stories like this make me feel that large chunks of the US are fundamentally broken. I just find it interesting that Americans assume that public transport is impossible rather than their current layout was designed purely for car transport and that it can be fixed.
      - ghaff 7y ago
        OTOH, the context is that, although I'm only about an hour drive from Boston, I live in a largely rural town in a property that's between an apple orchard and a christmas tree farm plus conservation land. (With easy driving, but not walking, distance from a commuter rail station.) I'm not sure why it would be the norm for me to have a frequent/easy public transit option or whether that would be the norm in most of Europe either. I actually can get into the city for 9-5 fairly easily by rail. Just not door to door.

ghaff 7y ago

Getting from commuter rail stations to suburban locations is often difficult even with Uber/Lyft. In any case, even with relatively good commuter rail--I'm about a 7 minute drive from a station--it's basically useless for evening activities. Outside of rush hour it runs about every 90 minutes. And this is a good commuter rail system.

Polylactic_acid 7y ago
At least where I am the bus stop is never more than 30 minutes walking from wherever I want go. If I am visiting a suburb I am never in a rush and a 30 minute walk is quite nice.
- ghaff 7y ago
  There's effectively no public transit out where I live. I mean, there's some sort of regional transit presumably for poor people who don't own cars but it's not really practical otherwise. The one time I looked on Google Maps, it would have taken me 4 hours to get into the city, including walking along a busy street with no sidewalks, to get to a bus to take a train. And this is about an hour drive.
  - Polylactic_acid 7y ago
    Stories like this make me feel that large chunks of the US are fundamentally broken. I just find it interesting that Americans assume that public transport is impossible rather than their current layout was designed purely for car transport and that it can be fixed.
    - ghaff 7y ago
      OTOH, the context is that, although I'm only about an hour drive from Boston, I live in a largely rural town in a property that's between an apple orchard and a christmas tree farm plus conservation land. (With easy driving, but not walking, distance from a commuter rail station.) I'm not sure why it would be the norm for me to have a frequent/easy public transit option or whether that would be the norm in most of Europe either. I actually can get into the city for 9-5 fairly easily by rail. Just not door to door.