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I ride motorcycles and that intense focus for me is meditative. I feel more engaged and alert after a 30 minute motorcycle ride than I do riding an Uber. The mo

I ride motorcycles and that intense focus for me is meditative. I feel more engaged and alert after a 30 minute motorcycle ride than I do riding an Uber. The motorcycle riding has a similar counterintuitive effect (for me) as Ritalin. (Ritalin is a stimulant used to treat ADHD.) When I ride public transport or have a driver — I feel relatively more lethargic than when I ride the motorcycle (and to a lesser extend driving a car.) > it is to massively double down on improving public transit Why? Private transport represents freedom, public transit represents control. Furthermore, getting public transit to a level of perfect will cost tens of billions of dollars and for what benefit? To have cities and towns shut down each time there is a transit strike, a superstorm, or the government decides we should stay home? Cars, motorcycles, bicycles, scooters — those work. Let’s make that better. I definitely don’t like spending my time sitting next to strangers of an indeterminate mental status in a temperature that isn’t of my own choosing going to a destination that isn’t necessarily the precise place I want to go. I want to interact with strangers as little as possible. Raise the fares to $20 (and enforce it) and perhaps I’d consider riding public transit. But after my experiences with the BART and piss-soaked, rat infested NYC subway stations, no thank you. If I want thrills hanging out with a bunch of psychotics waiting for an excuse to push you onto the tracks, I’d rather BASE jump the Met Life building instead. For a young single person carrying nothing more than their Manhattan Portage satchel to some hipster haunt in Brooklyn, public transport can be great. For people with stuff to carry, small kids, wheelchairs, or mobility issues, or tight schedules, not so much. Add the safety aspects to it and public transport becomes less attractive — unless of course they start allowing those with firearms permits to carry on public transport. But even then, not sure why people would want to give up point to point freedom for public options.

AlotOfReading 4y ago
Imagine you're a person who occasionally needs to use a bathroom, or has anxiety about roads/traffic/driving, or claustrophobia from the idea of being stuck in traffic. I know people with all of these issues. Well-designed public transit like trains addresses them far better than personal vehicles. I'm also not sure what personal freedoms you think don't exist in Europe or Asia where such well-designed transit networks exist. You can still have a car, you just don't need to have one.
- idlehand 4y ago
  A functional public transport system also means that people who are too young or old to drive, or have vision problems, or need to take medication which makes it unsafe to operate a vehicle, have the freedom to leave their homes and go where they need to go.
  - namose 4y ago
    Although tbh I’ve never seen accessible public transit in the US.
patrick451 4y ago
powerhour 4y ago
> Private transport represents freedom, public transit represents control. I feel the opposite. If I need to get somewhere then private transport feels like control: I have to own and maintain a car, pay insurance, watch the road carefully, etc. Public transport, in contrast, feels like freedom. But I know this is not the common belief.
- pastage 4y ago
  This is the only reason I do not like riding a bicycle (or other private transport), you have to take care of it, park it and return to it. Just being able to walk and hop on public transport is a great feeling. I guess it's something cagers just learn to live with.
- akomtu 4y ago
  So 1984 was right: "slavery is freedom". I'm too lazy to find thr exact quote, but I remember the reasoning in the book was similar: slavery is the freedom from the need of making decisions, assess risk amd bear consequences of your actions, so slaves must be freer than the free men.
  - namose 4y ago
    With a great public transit system, it feels like you are beholden to nothing. You feel like going to a restaurant and you just start walking. In NYC you can even get to hiking trails by transit. It’s wonderful. Not to mention no DDs
  - powerhour 4y ago
    I get what you're saying, however I disagree with the characterization. I don't want to be free of making all decisions, I just don't see much value in deciding mundane things like what turns to take or how fast to drive or where to park. I would rather spend my time deciding what work I will do, who I will love and befriend, what I will learn, and so on.
  - sagarm 4y ago
    Whenever I meet with someone who drove to meet me, I'm struck by their need to return to their vehicle, think about parking, reflexive complaints about gas prices etc. In contrast I just choose a transportation mode is when I leave; often, I choose a slower walk, with a meandering path that actually engaged with my community for better or occasionally worse. The characterization of this as "slavery" is beyond ridiculous.
cbdumas 4y ago
> Private transport represents freedom, public transit represents control. I think you have this backwards. Public transport gives freedom to many many people who are unable to drive (can't afford a car, too young to drive, too old to drive, etc.). In the US if you can't afford to drive your freedom is vastly curtailed precisely because we do not have effective public transport in most cities.
mancerayder 4y ago
>Raise the fares to $20 (and enforce it) and perhaps I’d consider riding public transit. But after my experiences with the BART and piss-soaked, rat infested NYC subway stations, no thank you. If I want thrills hanging out with a bunch of psychotics waiting for an excuse to push you onto the tracks, I’d rather BASE jump the Met Life building instead. It doesn't have to be like this. It didn't used to be like this. It might take a few years, but eventually the new generation/ Progressive experimentation with 're-imagining' criminal justice will come to an end. At the moment, those unhinged folks (where I saw an almost aggression just days ago at 845 am) aren't behind bars, a few years ago serial criminals would be either in jail in and out, or in prison being punished for a crime. Today they're.. just about everywhere but. That's just a fact of the situation. Now we can discuss the morality of putting people behind bars, etc. And have a reasonable conversation. Meanwhile the cities are unsafe, and NYC has an unemployment rate of 8 percent because office workers would rather be remote, and that hurts the economy.
cycomanic 4y ago
The issue is that you are banking on everyone else to subsidise your motorways (construction and maintance is paid to 50% from income/state taxes), and let's not even talk about the externalities, or the cost of the land occupied by those roads. Moreover what you call freedom is only freedom for those with enough money. Instead of heavily subsidising car/motor travel we should invest that money into making it possible for the next generations to continue living on this planet. That's not going to happen with more and more cars.
sagarm 4y ago
> Add the safety aspects to it and public transport becomes less attractive — unless of course they start allowing those with firearms permits to carry on public transport. The idea that allowing private citizens to carry guns on public transit will make things safer is completely insane. All these politicians that rant about second amendment rights still don't allow guns into their rallies, because people shooting guns in an area with even a relatively small number of people is NOT a recipe for safety.

AlotOfReading 4y ago

Imagine you're a person who occasionally needs to use a bathroom, or has anxiety about roads/traffic/driving, or claustrophobia from the idea of being stuck in traffic. I know people with all of these issues. Well-designed public transit like trains addresses them far better than personal vehicles. I'm also not sure what personal freedoms you think don't exist in Europe or Asia where such well-designed transit networks exist. You can still have a car, you just don't need to have one.

idlehand 4y ago
A functional public transport system also means that people who are too young or old to drive, or have vision problems, or need to take medication which makes it unsafe to operate a vehicle, have the freedom to leave their homes and go where they need to go.
- namose 4y ago
  Although tbh I’ve never seen accessible public transit in the US.

patrick451 4y ago

powerhour 4y ago

> Private transport represents freedom, public transit represents control. I feel the opposite. If I need to get somewhere then private transport feels like control: I have to own and maintain a car, pay insurance, watch the road carefully, etc. Public transport, in contrast, feels like freedom. But I know this is not the common belief.

pastage 4y ago
This is the only reason I do not like riding a bicycle (or other private transport), you have to take care of it, park it and return to it. Just being able to walk and hop on public transport is a great feeling. I guess it's something cagers just learn to live with.
akomtu 4y ago
So 1984 was right: "slavery is freedom". I'm too lazy to find thr exact quote, but I remember the reasoning in the book was similar: slavery is the freedom from the need of making decisions, assess risk amd bear consequences of your actions, so slaves must be freer than the free men.
- namose 4y ago
  With a great public transit system, it feels like you are beholden to nothing. You feel like going to a restaurant and you just start walking. In NYC you can even get to hiking trails by transit. It’s wonderful. Not to mention no DDs
- powerhour 4y ago
  I get what you're saying, however I disagree with the characterization. I don't want to be free of making all decisions, I just don't see much value in deciding mundane things like what turns to take or how fast to drive or where to park. I would rather spend my time deciding what work I will do, who I will love and befriend, what I will learn, and so on.
- sagarm 4y ago
  Whenever I meet with someone who drove to meet me, I'm struck by their need to return to their vehicle, think about parking, reflexive complaints about gas prices etc. In contrast I just choose a transportation mode is when I leave; often, I choose a slower walk, with a meandering path that actually engaged with my community for better or occasionally worse. The characterization of this as "slavery" is beyond ridiculous.

cbdumas 4y ago

> Private transport represents freedom, public transit represents control. I think you have this backwards. Public transport gives freedom to many many people who are unable to drive (can't afford a car, too young to drive, too old to drive, etc.). In the US if you can't afford to drive your freedom is vastly curtailed precisely because we do not have effective public transport in most cities.

mancerayder 4y ago

>Raise the fares to $20 (and enforce it) and perhaps I’d consider riding public transit. But after my experiences with the BART and piss-soaked, rat infested NYC subway stations, no thank you. If I want thrills hanging out with a bunch of psychotics waiting for an excuse to push you onto the tracks, I’d rather BASE jump the Met Life building instead. It doesn't have to be like this. It didn't used to be like this. It might take a few years, but eventually the new generation/ Progressive experimentation with 're-imagining' criminal justice will come to an end. At the moment, those unhinged folks (where I saw an almost aggression just days ago at 845 am) aren't behind bars, a few years ago serial criminals would be either in jail in and out, or in prison being punished for a crime. Today they're.. just about everywhere but. That's just a fact of the situation. Now we can discuss the morality of putting people behind bars, etc. And have a reasonable conversation. Meanwhile the cities are unsafe, and NYC has an unemployment rate of 8 percent because office workers would rather be remote, and that hurts the economy.

cycomanic 4y ago

The issue is that you are banking on everyone else to subsidise your motorways (construction and maintance is paid to 50% from income/state taxes), and let's not even talk about the externalities, or the cost of the land occupied by those roads. Moreover what you call freedom is only freedom for those with enough money. Instead of heavily subsidising car/motor travel we should invest that money into making it possible for the next generations to continue living on this planet. That's not going to happen with more and more cars.

sagarm 4y ago

> Add the safety aspects to it and public transport becomes less attractive — unless of course they start allowing those with firearms permits to carry on public transport. The idea that allowing private citizens to carry guns on public transit will make things safer is completely insane. All these politicians that rant about second amendment rights still don't allow guns into their rallies, because people shooting guns in an area with even a relatively small number of people is NOT a recipe for safety.