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This is basically what it is like commuting by bus in India: http://www.preetindersodhi.com/pictures/the-indian-bus/ http://www.preetindersodhi.com/pictures/the
by memset 14y ago
This is basically what it is like commuting by bus in India: http://www.preetindersodhi.com/pictures/the-indian-bus/ http://www.preetindersodhi.com/pictures/the-indian-bus/
Imagine being crammed in during a 100-degree+ summer just to get to and from work every day. Oof.
I live in NYC; we have a very tame definition of "taking the bus" as compared to India.
- JonnieCache 14y agoGuess I was thinking more from a standpoint of the social status of taking public transport versus having your own car. But you're right, those considerations are irrelevant next to the aforementioned heat and overcrowding.
- free 14y agoCome on, that picture is more exception than the norm. I travelled by bus for years when I was in school and college. There are definitely people hanging near the doors but nowhere as close as to what you mentioned in the picture.
- GeneralWaste 14y agoThat picture is definitely o lot busier than average but in my experience the majority of urban buses were unpleasantly hot and crowded in India, particularly during the rush hour. I avoided using them if at all possible, and I generally really enjoyed most of the other forms of transport on offer there, especially the more dirty and dangerous ones.
- JonnieCache 14y agoTry using the london underground in summer. It gets a lot hotter than 100 degrees. It gets dangerously crowded sometimes too. EDIT: Oh shit, it's you. You should know, heh.
- memset 14y agoI mean, the central point of the original comment was the stark contrast between rich and dirt-poor, who often sit side-by-side, and how we better hide these differences in Western nations. I had just wanted to nitpick that the bus example is actually a very good one to highlight why "riding the bus" is not a bad indication of poverty, which I think we agree on! None of this detracts from the fact that riding the subway during the summer is miserable for everyone, but isn't (in my mind, or in the parent's) quite the same as an Indian bus!
- irahul 14y ago> Come on, that picture is more exception than the norm. The norm isn't too far from the exception. I spent 4 years in Chennai, and this was a common sight. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-4o_J8R8OVg/TIy3nfGUzdI/AAAAAAAAAoI/uDoUKJA0zOc/s1600/chennai-local-bus.jpg http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-4o_J8R8OVg/TIy3nfGUzdI/AAAAAAAAAo... Though I have never seen the bent buses in Bangalore yet in the 5 years I have been here. That is not to say public buses are pleasant here - you still deal with being densely packed with other commuters of varying degree of hygiene.
- RealGeek 14y agoI see that picture ever day in New Delhi (capital of India)
- irahul 14y agoI was in Delhi a long time back(9 years), and when I came to Chennai, the Delhi buses started to look pleasant in comparison. The only buses which ran on the route my college was on were skewed to the side owing to the hanging passengers. In Bangalore, at least the damn door closes and no one is falling to his death. When I was in Delhi, I was a broke student and took buses most of the times. Some routes were quite pleasant. Some were outright hell. The one that runs between south Delhi and Najafgarh is packed(especially after 8 in the evening), and people are knowingly and unknowingly thrusting their crotches into each other.
- spitx 14y agoYou guys should come by the Mission district or China Town or Lower Haight ( here in San Francisco ) or take public transit (any of the BART stations - 16th, 24th, Civic Center or Glen Park). The foulest stench of excrement anywhere. Some blame the Hispanic population and some blame the Hmong and others blame the street urchins. But I never expected to smell anything so odious in a major metropolis in the U.S.
- quesera 14y agoI am certain that you have never been to India. I question whether you've been to New York City, in the summer.
- aksbhat 14y agoIts not that bad, I took public bus to school as a thirteen year old. It was as crowded as an MTA bus. Except there is no Air Conditioning, otherwise it is not that bad. Trains however tend to be much worse, since the doors never close.
- coastside_geek 14y agoWhen I was growing up in Chennai I would lean out the bus doors (with one hand) primarily to impress the young hotties walking along the side of the road.