Public Transportation

[Martin Hash]

Yankee Stadium.jpg

I've spent years living and traveling with no way to get around other than my feet or public transport; sometimes over an hour each way, everyday, on train, subway then bus to get to my job. The one thing I can say is that, when possible, walking is preferable. Why? Because public transport puts you at the mercy of callous bureaucrats, hoi polloi, and the discourteous. The ticket counter is staffed by people who have no sense of urgency, nor accountability to their employer or their customers. Finding your way around is a humbling experience, overshadowed by a constant fear of missing your car or getting on the wrong one. Seating is haphazard and dirty, every time a pregnant lady or old person gets on you feel guilty for sitting, and you are constantly watching for your stop. When you get there you have to find a way to your destination, often in adverse weather. You then worry about missing your train home. It's easy to see why most people would prefer driving themselves, whatever the expense.

I've never met one personally, but I've read posts online from people who proselytize mass transit. It's a religion to them, including their sense of moral superiority, and their desire that everyone be forced to partake for the “good of all.” Whether these people actually use public transportation in any real way is actually unclear; maybe they're all New Yorkers and have fond memories of taking the subway to Coney Island, or the train to New Rochelle? Maybe they simply can't afford a car, so are envious of those who can? Perhaps they're hipsters who think public transport is fashionable, like unkempt beards? All I can say for sure is that the folks who try and push this travesty onto everyone are the very epitome of Nanny State evil. It won't be fast enough for driverless cars to get here.

Newcastle Train Station s.jpg

Grand Central Station 1.jpg

[DBTrek]

I used to ride the Seattle metro from Beacon Hill to First Hill. It was a short ride, about 25 mins. Still, enough time for me to see Native Americans congregating in the back and getting trashed off brown-bag beer, the bus halted for fights, and homeless people sleeping in seats like it was a mobile motel 6.

Stepped on one morning and the bus driver walked to the back wearing plastic gloves so he could pick up a pile of shit in the middle of the aisle. I remember thinking “please let that have been left by someone’s dog”.

[Speaker to Animals]

I have some horror stories from riding the Metra in Chicago.

I always get a kick out of people like Brewster trying to sell up the cities as some kind of paragon as if I never lived in one of those shit holes.

[Fife]

Nice day for a walk across town.

[Speaker to Animals]

Move out into the mountains. The worst you have to worry about is the rare squatch attack. Maybe bears.

[Fife]

Move out into the mountains. The worst you have to worry about is the rare squatch attack. Maybe bears.

How are the mosquitoes at your elevation in the summer?

[DBTrek]

Move out into the mountains. The worst you have to worry about is the rare squatch attack. Maybe bears.

Ticks.
Lyme disease.

[Speaker to Animals]

Move out into the mountains. The worst you have to worry about is the rare squatch attack. Maybe bears.

How are the mosquitoes at your elevation in the summer?

Not too bad.

Nothing like Florida (or even Chicago suburbs).

The noseums are fucking horrible, though, but they are usually in cut grass. Easy to avoid.

[Speaker to Animals]

Move out into the mountains. The worst you have to worry about is the rare squatch attack. Maybe bears.

Ticks.
Lyme disease.

That's everywhere, dude.

And.. I could counter with Hepatitis C and other pathogens in the shit that is all over the streets and train stations.

[Fife]

Move out into the mountains. The worst you have to worry about is the rare squatch attack. Maybe bears.

How are the mosquitoes at your elevation in the summer?

Not too bad.

Nothing like Florida (or even Chicago suburbs).

The noseums are fucking horrible, though, but they are usually in cut grass. Easy to avoid.

Mosquitoes are my biggest pain in the ass at Kentucky Lake, but it just takes a bit of chemical effort to keep them away. About the only thing I miss about smoking now is being able to fire up a square just about anywhere outside in the summer and keeping the little bastards away.

@DB, ticks are a bit of a hassle also. Close grooming seems to make getting rid of them a reasonable hassle, though. Better than the kind of human ticks one meets up with in the city.