I've been published locally - Toyota Yaris Forums

supmet · 07-05-2009, 02:39 PM

^^ buses around here run on CNG

The read was interesting, but it just reinforced my ideas about public transportation. If we had anything remotely close to the mass transit systems found all across europe, I'd sell the yaris today. Even some east coast cities would be livable without a vehicle. Unfortunately with congressmen on the bankroll of detroit for so long, public transportation has taken a backseat to everything else. For me to get to LA, a 30 minute car ride, take 5 minutes walking, 35 minutes on a bus, 20 minutes waiting, 30 minutes on a train, and then another bus ride wherever you are going. Monthly train passes can run 300 dollars depending on where you are going, bus passes are around 45. If it were closer to 1/3 the cost of driving, rather than 2/3, I would be more willing to spend over 3 times as long to get where I was going. Throw in the added stress of poorly marked stations, and finding your way around unfamiliar places, and forget about it.

Then there's a couple hundred thousand people living in victorville and working in the inland empire or LA. They all have NO public transportation available to them.

I applaud you for sacrificing yourself for the good of the environment, but the US has a long, long way to go before the average joe will consider public transport.

GeneW · 07-05-2009, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by supmet

Even some east coast cities would be livable without a vehicle.

My Mom, a Pittsburgh PA native, didn't drive until she was in her mid twenties because she could ride the bus anywhere she needed to go. In the 1980s, before the light rail system went into the Pittsburgh, I didn't need a car for about two years while I lived down there.

Things are even better now with light rail transit and it better be given how much money is spent on PAT (Port Authority Transit, Pgh's transit authority) and SEPTA (South East Pennsylvania Transit Authority, Philly's transit authority). Drivers for PAT are paid exorbitant wages, over thirty bucks an hour, to drive bus. They also get lavish pensions, more than those of us in the "private sector" receive.

Nice that SoCal mass transit runs on CNG. We're still in the diesel age out here and does it stink with the older units.

Gene

07-05-2009, 02:39 PM	#1
supmet Banned View User's Garage Drives: 2007 4 Door Yaris Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Southern California Posts: 1,357	^^ buses around here run on CNG The read was interesting, but it just reinforced my ideas about public transportation. If we had anything remotely close to the mass transit systems found all across europe, I'd sell the yaris today. Even some east coast cities would be livable without a vehicle. Unfortunately with congressmen on the bankroll of detroit for so long, public transportation has taken a backseat to everything else. For me to get to LA, a 30 minute car ride, take 5 minutes walking, 35 minutes on a bus, 20 minutes waiting, 30 minutes on a train, and then another bus ride wherever you are going. Monthly train passes can run 300 dollars depending on where you are going, bus passes are around 45. If it were closer to 1/3 the cost of driving, rather than 2/3, I would be more willing to spend over 3 times as long to get where I was going. Throw in the added stress of poorly marked stations, and finding your way around unfamiliar places, and forget about it. Then there's a couple hundred thousand people living in victorville and working in the inland empire or LA. They all have NO public transportation available to them. I applaud you for sacrificing yourself for the good of the environment, but the US has a long, long way to go before the average joe will consider public transport.