Comment on Being poor is expensive
faythofdragons@slrpnk.net 14 hours agoThe only reason I got my driver’s license is because the bus was over an hour late and I missed an interview. The transit agency had the gall to tell me that I should have taken the 6am bus for a noon appointment if it was so important the 9am bus was on time.
birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 hours ago
And there it hits again: the core of the issue is not the bus agency, but the lack of support for excellent public transit.
Build another car lane, it gets filled up immediately.
Build a bus lane, have buses drive regularly between areas of cities, connect cities with each other by train, and you’ll see it’s much better. Lack of bus lanes, bicycle lanes and paths, trains, is a policy failure caused by RINOs like those MAGAhats of Trump, who vote for bootlicking the petrolobby.
Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 11 hours ago
I don’t control the busses. I don’t dictate to the busses when they need to come. I don’t dictate to the busses what routes they take, or where they will actually go. I can only accept whatever level of service they are willing to provide.
I do control my car. I do dictate to my car when it needs to go. I create the level of service I will receive.
The monetary price of a bus fare is significantly less than the cost of a car trip. But even with the absolute best public transit system, the opportunity costs vastly exceed the difference. An hour commute turns a $25/hr job into a $20/hr job. Employment and/or housing choices are limited: Job and home need to be on the same bus line, because a twice-daily transfer is just going to kill hourly earnings. And, of course, there is the premium on urban housing.
Between the time costs, the housing costs, and the restrictions on employment choices, busses are a massive cost borne primarily by the impoverished.