3 ms·

> If public transportation is not reliable, make it reliable. Because people who don't use it don't want to pay for it. There is a lot of opposition to public

> If public transportation is not reliable, make it reliable. Because people who don't use it don't want to pay for it. There is a lot of opposition to public transport that doesn't pay for itself. There is also the horrible feedback loop of "only poor people take public transportation" stigma, making it more difficult to break even.

mullingitover 6y ago
> There is also the horrible feedback loop of "only poor people take public transportation" stigma, making it more difficult to break even. At least in LA, the problem isn't "poor people ride public transportation." It's straight up "I don't feel safe." I tried using the Metro and didn't buy a car for nearly a year after I moved here, but there were incidents I experienced that made me abandon it. It had nothing to do with poor people. "A survey of riders showed that women feel less safe than men during all stages of their transit trips — especially at night. For example, just 13% of women surveyed said they felt safe waiting for a train or bus after dark, compared to 30% of men." [1] When 87% of women and 70% of men don't feel safe on public transportation that's a real problem and it's no surprise that people abandon it as soon as the possibly can. [1] https://laist.com/2019/10/03/los-angeles-la-metro-women-public-transportation-travel-report.php https://laist.com/2019/10/03/los-angeles-la-metro-women-publ...
- oblio 6y ago
  It's not a law of physics that public transport is unsafe. Why isn't it being made safe? It's not rocket science.
  - njarboe 6y ago
    I would say making people feel safe when using public transport in the US is harder than building a rocket at this point in history. And building rockets is still very hard.
gugagore 6y ago
It is worth being more precise than "there is a lot of opposition". That opposition corresponds to a political ideology that public entities like mass transportation and USPS [1] should break even to begin with. It's not a requirement that these public services break even. In fact, (controversially) it's the opposite. [2] [1] https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2019/1114-usps-reports-fiscal-year-2019-results.htm https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2019/1114-... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deficit_spending https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deficit_spending

mullingitover 6y ago

> There is also the horrible feedback loop of "only poor people take public transportation" stigma, making it more difficult to break even. At least in LA, the problem isn't "poor people ride public transportation." It's straight up "I don't feel safe." I tried using the Metro and didn't buy a car for nearly a year after I moved here, but there were incidents I experienced that made me abandon it. It had nothing to do with poor people. "A survey of riders showed that women feel less safe than men during all stages of their transit trips — especially at night. For example, just 13% of women surveyed said they felt safe waiting for a train or bus after dark, compared to 30% of men." [1] When 87% of women and 70% of men don't feel safe on public transportation that's a real problem and it's no surprise that people abandon it as soon as the possibly can. [1] https://laist.com/2019/10/03/los-angeles-la-metro-women-public-transportation-travel-report.php https://laist.com/2019/10/03/los-angeles-la-metro-women-publ...

oblio 6y ago
It's not a law of physics that public transport is unsafe. Why isn't it being made safe? It's not rocket science.
- njarboe 6y ago
  I would say making people feel safe when using public transport in the US is harder than building a rocket at this point in history. And building rockets is still very hard.

gugagore 6y ago

It is worth being more precise than "there is a lot of opposition". That opposition corresponds to a political ideology that public entities like mass transportation and USPS [1] should break even to begin with. It's not a requirement that these public services break even. In fact, (controversially) it's the opposite. [2] [1] https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2019/1114-usps-reports-fiscal-year-2019-results.htm https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2019/1114-... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deficit_spending https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deficit_spending