Public transportation poll

The idea of public transportation in my little town just makes me laugh. My town at the most is 4 miles long and maybe 3 miles across, so anyone could ride a bike across town faster than any bus could drive with all the stops in between. My boyfriend doesn't even have a car, he doesn't need one since he has a bike. Many people in my town prefer just to bike rather then drive and the roads around here are really wide with nice shoulders for all the bikers and walkers.

I could take the greyhound bus up to the city but the cost is around $50 one way and it leaves at 3am so that is not worth it at all.

There is a senior center in my town that has a few vans that drive the elderly around if they need it. The local hospital is in the middle of no where outside of town and the police will give anyone a ride who needs to go there. In those cases that is sort of public transportation but it's on a needs basis.

Ed, the few times I've ridden Metro and the buses I freaked out as well . . .and I don't have claustrophobia! Just too many people packed in like sardines.

As for where we live proper, public transportation consists of one shuttle bus, like the hotels use at the airports!

I haven't figured out the public transport in Omaha yet. I know there are bus lines, but I'm not sure where or when they run just yet.
 
In Boston, I hated the T, but the bus lines were a pretty great way to get around. There were certain lines that were hell on wheels, but overall it was inexpensive and convenient.

The public transportation in Milwaukee is pretty good.  I drive to work, but we have used the bus system to go downtown on the weekends so we don't have to drive.  It does take about twice the time but is much cheaper than taking a cab home!

I live very close to work, so it's not  a problem for me to get anywhere here in town. I use a tank of gas a MONTH.

DH works in Portland, and there is NO public transportation from our town inot Portland.  If he had to use the bus, he would have to drive to within ten miles of his work, get on a bus and ride for another hour. He can drive it in about a hour.  He's gone twelve hours a day NOW.  Do the math--I want to see DH more than twenty minutes a day!

I take the bus to work every single day. The only time in my life when I haven't completely relied on public transit to get me around was when we lived in Nowheresville, MD and one of the (many, many) reasons we moved back to the city from there is because we had to have two cars and we were each putting a tank of gas per week in our cars. It was ridiculous.

All through high school I took the public bus to and from school every day. Living in DC I took the metro to and from work every day. Here in Pittsburgh I've always bussed it to and from work every day. I so much prefer the bus, even when I have a car available, which I usually don't, I don't drive. Parking is a problem in the area where I work so if you do drive in you then have to spend a half an hour looking for a parking spot, and when you find one you have to cough up enough quarters for an 8 hour work day. No thanks! My Carnegie Mellon University (where I work) ID card gets me free rides on all public transit at all times. Even on weekends I sometimes take the busses around if I don't feel like walking.

My husband however, works out in the suburbs and does the reverse-commute thing (we live in the city, commute to the burbs) every day. He drives because there isn't a bus that goes there, and he'd carpool except most of the people who work out there live out there too. But you couldn't pay me enough to live in a suburb. I'm a city girl, 100%.

I think that one of the best things about living in NYC is the public transportation.  I haven't owned a car in over 15 years and I don't need one.  I can get any place I need to go on public transport.  The downside to it is that we have over 9 million people using it and it can get quite "hairy"!  I commuted on the subway for about 10 years and I've seen (and smelled) some horrific things - I really don't ride it anymore.  I either walk or take the bus these days. 
 
Also, when I travel I am inclined to use whatever form of public transport is available.  I've ridden all the trains, buses and trolley cars of Europe, Donkeys in Greece, Camels in Turkey, etc.  I think it enhances the experience and knowledge of a new city, plus it's fun!  I love that in Bermuda there are NO car rentals - only scooters!  (they have a great bus system as well)

Public transportation around here is your own two feet. I mean, the town is about 1.5 miles MAX each direction. You could walk across the whole town in the time it took for a bus to show up. There is a county bus that transports the elderly, disabled and headstart kids to their various places, though. And the University about 30 miles away has a Van Pool program for workers that live here.

That being the case, I am always amazed at how unfriendly much of the town is to pedestrians. The new housing developments don't have sidewalks and walking on those curvy streets is just asking for trouble. There is only one backwards and convoluted route if you want to *walk* to the rec center and swimming pool. So kids either have to risk their necks on the highway or go an extra 1/4 mile if they want to ride their bikes to the pool in the summer. And most people *drive* to the rec center so they can go walk on the track [8D]