Public transportation poll

We have a pretty good bus system but I rarely (make that never) use it.  A lot of the time I have grocery shopping to do, or I need to get there and back a lot quicker than I would on a bus. Today, for example, I drove 10 miles to Home Depot for 3 ceiling fans. The boxes were big and pretty heavy and I really didn't see myself trying to lug them home on a bus as opposed to just shoving them in the back of the wagon.
 
Joyce

until very recently, public transportation was a very limited option for me.
 
now, even though i have the choice, i walk because i find the bus system intimidating, unreliabe, and dangerous.
 
the best public transportation is on the east coast in the big cities: NYC, boston, washington dc (dc is the best, i think)

There is no public transportation, here. Even if there was, I live 11 miles outside of the city limits.

public transport is a moot point for me in an every-day theme - considering I live 4 miles from work.  However, the commuter bus that runs to Logan airport (Boston - yep!!) is very convenient.  I've also been taking the train into NYC, and subway through out.

I think we have a decent public transportation system in certain parts of the DFW metroplex.  Although I rarely use any of it, the one thing I do use from time to time is the TRE which is a train that goes from Fort Worth to Dallas.  The problem with it is it doesn't cover enough ground but you can always catch a bus or a cab from there to get to your final destination.  I really wish they would extend it into more areas in Dallas where different events are held.  I would choose it over driving and parking any day!
 
I have used it to go to the airport when it was snowing and icing to pick someone up and also used it to send DH and his brother to a hockey game where I knew they would want to drink and had no business driving...so they rode that and I picked them up downtown.
 
I have never used our bus system here so I have no idea how good it is but I know a lot of people who commute to Dallas daily and ride the train to avoid the traffic and save on gas and parking.  Even though it takes a little longer than driving...even in the traffic here...you can sleep or read or listen to music or whatever else you can think of while riding the train instead of sitting in traffic and feeling totally frustrated. 

We have an okay transportation system here in Sacramento, I actually used to take the bus in hight school sometimes, when I did not have a car and my school district did not have buses for any of the High Schools.
 
It wasn't too good of an expirience, the buses were usually about 1/4 full and it took awhile for the bus to actually get there it was always 30 min to an hour and half late and the people on the bus usually did make me feel too safe. I had on more then one occasion where I was followed home.
 
And now since I have a car it just never seems to work out, whenver I go out I have to do shopping and like Fuzzy_dogs_mom said its a bit hard to go onto a bus with a gigantic bag of dog food or a bunch of bags from Trader Joe's.

Years ago when I lived in the DC area I did use public transportation to do my job in outside sales....it was that good.
 
Where I am now, the bus system isn't steller.  They have a second service that you can CALL for pickup, but I've seen applicants at our office wait for 2 hours for the bus to arrive...it always does so I can't say it's not reliable, but, it sure isn't quick.
 
We both work 20 miles from where we live.  There IS a bus that will take us into town, however, it requires THREE hours to get there.  Now, working in outside sales, I couldn't use the bus, however, I leave home at 7 now to be at work at 8......no way I'm leaving at 5 AM!

The public transportation system here is terrible, though I do use it a few days a week. It doesn't come near where I live anymore. There used to be a bus that stopped by my neighborhood, but that got cut a few years ago. It takes me about 20 minutes to get to the nearest train stations. The line I usually take isn't too bad, but several of the lines can always be counted on to be a few minutes late, no matter what the weather. Mine usually isn't bad if the weather is decent, but if it's not, good luck getting anywhere on time. I get on early enough that I can get a seat, but a few stations down the line, gettin a seat on the train can sometimes be difficult. The parking also gets filled at the station I usually go to by 7:30, and they will ticket you for illegally parking (although when I got one I just fought it by saying they had no legal spaces open).
It might actually be a bit cheaper for me to drive in considering I go with a friend, so the round trip for the two of us including parking is $17.00. I drive to school on Tuesdays because to get to the practicum school we are at, we would have to take the subway to the bus, and to get back to the train to get home we'd have to get the bus to the subway, and if we missed it wait another hour. That's an additional $3.60 a person for the two of us both ways, so then we'd be up to$24.20.  However, I also take the other two people in our group to the school with us, which if they took the subway and bus there it'd be $3.60 for the two of them, so now the total would be $27.80. I also take one of the girls back to her car on the way home since we pass by it, rather than making her try to catch the bus back to the subway to get on the train, which would cost her  $5.55 (she usually gives me a few bucks), making the total for the day $33.35. I pay $10 for parking for the day, which we're only really in for a few hours, but I don't want to have to run out and feed the meter. Even with the gas I use sitting in traffic (although I did figure out a better way to get there now so I won't be sitting as much) it's still significantly cheaper than using public transportation, and we don't have to worry about getting stuck for another hour if we want to stick around for a few minutes. It could actually be cheaper to drive everyday, but the traffic can be a total nightmare.

Pittsburgh, right at this moment, has a good public transpo system.  We live about 8 miles from downtown and I can take the bus there and transfer to get to work.  It's not the quickest way, but Pittsburgh's roads are bad (read: backed up for miles) so unless I plan on getting to work by 7-7:30 am, it takes nearly as long to drive.  Not to mention that I was going thru a tank of gas every 4-5 days and now we fill up maybe every 2-3 weeks.  We also only have one car for the two of us, and although we commute to nearly the same place, we go at totally different times of the day so even if one drove the other would still take the bus.
 
However.... DH goes to University of Pittsburgh and I work at Pitt, so we both have Pitt IDs and with that free bus pass!  So that's even better.  Otherwise, it would be $4.50 per day for each of us, so $9/day in transportation.  Then, driving would be cheaper but we'd have to drive in together and wait for each other. 
 
Pittsburgh is looking to slash something like 60% of the pubilc buses in the next few months, however, and the suburbs are the first to go, so if we stay where we are living we won't have access to public transportation if that goes through.  So maybe I will end up having to drive.... or move..... or both. 

Public transportation would be a waste where I live.
At times in the big city of Winston-Salem, the busses are not even half full, so I don't know if that is even a good situation.

At this time it would be completely unfeasible. We are pretty much at the edge of the bus system and service is poor. The only people who use it are people with no other options.
 
However, when I went back to school a few years ago, we saved a lot of money by only having one car. You get free use of public transportation with your student ID. DH would drop me off at the light rail on his way to work at 6:00 a.m. and I had a large choice of quiet areas to study. I could time coming home to suit the bus schedule or stay at school until he was done in the afternoon and meet him at the light rail station.

My city has NO public transport...and a multi-BILLION dollar NFL stadium due to open in 2009.
Yeah...great planning that!

I wish I could ride the bus but I have a claustrophobia problem and after about 2 minutes I'm freaking out.  The buses here in the NoVA area a crowded like you wouldn't believe.  It's usually standing room only. 

Heck I can't even take the train to hockey games without freaking out.  I've tried a bunch of different meds for it-they all make me so sleepy that it's not worth it.