Driving vs Public Transportation (pros & cons)

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YC11
YC11 Members Posts: 891 ✭✭✭✭
Self explanatory. Pros and cons for both, be creative, tho most will be obvious.

Driving offers freedom, independence and a viable option for a convenient ? pad. You go where you want, when you want, without following bus schedules or walking up to stops and stations to get rides, car is in your parking lot or garage or in front of your house when you step out, that feeling is dope. Plus during winter, esp when it's snowing and freezing with windchill minus below... Even the utmost anti-vehicle, environmentalists or ppl who simply can't afford one wish they could get in the car with the warm heating and music blasting, while they freeze their ? off waiting for bus that's delayed and never ever seems to show up.
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  • Kat
    Kat Members Posts: 50,667 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    YES..my kinda thread.

    I say both ftw.

    I've done public transportation as an only option and I've done it as an alternative option and I have to say it's more bearable knowing I have the option NOT to take public transit.

    I work downtown but live about 20 minutes away. During peak traffic hours, it would take me at least an hour if not more to get to work, only to pay 6 to 10 dollars for parking once I've reached my destination.

    I use the park and ride service (kinda like a Coach bus) which is only $6.50 a day, and I get to chillax to and from work. I get off at 4 and I'm to my car by 4:45, stress free. Win.


    Plus it's environmentally friendly! :)


    It may not be for everybody but I think anybody working in a metro area should at least consider it. Maybe even ride a route a time or two to see if it's doable for you.
  • YC11
    YC11 Members Posts: 891 ✭✭✭✭
    edited March 2014
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    Car sharing services like zipcar and autoshare, or even car2go these days are viable options to getting around for those who don't like public transportation but at the same time can't or don't want to own a car and maintain it with all the costs that comes with it.

    But yes if you live close to work or at least close to transits that'll get u there everyday, owning a car isn't a must.

    I was so close to not having my own for couple yrs at least from financial perspective but I couldn't resist the luxury and comfort that came with it. Paying the price for it but yeah, gotta bite the bullet. No right answer really.
  • whatevathehell
    whatevathehell Members Posts: 4,015 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Kat wrote: »
    YES..my kinda thread.

    I say both ftw.

    I've done public transportation as an only option and I've done it as an alternative option and I have to say it's more bearable knowing I have the option NOT to take public transit.

    I work downtown but live about 20 minutes away. During peak traffic hours, it would take me at least an hour if not more to get to work, only to pay 6 to 10 dollars for parking once I've reached my destination.

    I use the park and ride service (kinda like a Coach bus) which is only $6.50 a day, and I get to chillax to and from work. I get off at 4 and I'm to my car by 4:45, stress free. Win.


    Plus it's environmentally friendly! :)


    It may not be for everybody but I think anybody working in a metro area should at least consider it. Maybe even ride a route a time or two to see if it's doable for you.

    we got that same kinda ? in charlotte with the park and ride. Except its free to park I think, you just gotta pay the fare to use the train or bus.

    bus is alot more economical...pay 20 something odd bucks for a all week pass and a lit bit of gas to get there vs. paying all that money on gas.
  • whatevathehell
    whatevathehell Members Posts: 4,015 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    The bus is also good to get know a city if you have just relocated.
  • s-dot
    s-dot Members Posts: 164 ✭✭
    edited March 2014
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    public transportation pros: you can be reading (if that's your thing); saving gas (if bad traffic is an issue); you can run into friends/meet new people easier
  • king hassan
    king hassan Members Posts: 22,739 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I ride the train if im going downtown and I only live 6 blocks from work so I walk. In the summer I ride my bicycle to wori, takes 5 minutes
  • Billy_Poncho
    Billy_Poncho Members Posts: 22,382 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I would not recommend using public transportation if you're visiting Atlanta
  • YC11
    YC11 Members Posts: 891 ✭✭✭✭
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    I've been to Atl, public transportation was ok, what's so bad about it, but I was only there for couple of days,
  • ckfree
    ckfree Members Posts: 9,659 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    i take the bus a lot during the winter because for whatever reason the first snowfall of the year appears to make everyone forget how to drive --- i dont ? with the trains though---those train stops look like they ran out of soap at the station about five years ago and decided to save money by cleaning with ? instead --- the smell is just as bad as the sight add to it the labyrinth of 80 panhandlers, gang bangers and crackheads and youre better off taking the bus and thats not all that great either especially after school just got let out

    the only pro i can think of taking public transportation is that sometimes its fun to hear one end of a phone conversation

    i once heard this dude on a cell phone say 'so, when you have the wedding rehearsal dinner next to a porno convention, i mean, what did they EXPECT was going to happen?' --- but most of the time its annoying to have to listen to people talk about their mother in law or other little life ? while youre trying to read the newspaper on your way home

    and one thing about driving that will never get old is the feeling of succesfully parallel parking in a tough spot you kinda wish everybody was there to see it
  • YC11
    YC11 Members Posts: 891 ✭✭✭✭
    edited March 2014
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    I was pro public transportation until now, but the feeling of comfort you get from having a car in your garage when you wanna cruise and hit up spots with your girl, priceless.
  • MallyG
    MallyG Members Posts: 4,916 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    YC11 wrote: »
    I've been to Atl, public transportation was ok, what's so bad about it, but I was only there for couple of days,

    Bruh, as far as the trains go, Marta gonna get there when they feel like it. Them niccas have no clue what punctuality means. And then they will close the door on yo ass with the quickness and zilch phucks will be given.

    All Marta does is go North/South, East/ West. It ain't New York where u go trains and routes goin' errywhere so ? shouldn't be that hard to be on time. And don't phucks around and have to use that bish on the weekend! Sometimes it can be 30 to 40 minutes between trains b/c they "single track".

    I'm not surprised it's ran on some nikka ? cuz guess who's behind it.......

  • LUClEN
    LUClEN Members Posts: 20,559 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Going downtown by train > Driving in Traffic
  • lamontbdc
    lamontbdc Members Posts: 18,824 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Cons of public transportation is that it adds 2,3 or maybe even 4 hours to your work day round trip. You have to wake up at 5am to get to work on time at 7. Get off at 3 & don't get home until 4:30 or 5 that evening. That's just to get 20 or 30 minutes down the road. I did it while my license was revoked.


    Never again, I'll pass

    that all depends on what you city you in...? in DC the buses coming every 10/15 minutes. During rush hour the trains come every 3/4 minutes. I wake up the same time i would wake up if i drove to work. Plus i work downtown and would have to pay bout 20 a day just to park. ? i really only drive on the weekends

    now in Baltimore you might be waiting 30 minutes on a bus and they don't have much of a subway system
  • StillFaggyAF
    StillFaggyAF Members Posts: 40,358 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    NJ's public transportation sucks unless you're going to NYC or Philly

    when you're in the city the subway is mad convenient
  • king hassan
    king hassan Members Posts: 22,739 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 2014
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    I know some people that will drive downtown and deal with that traffic headache, I'm good
  • zombie
    zombie Members Posts: 13,450 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    living in manhattan having a car is just as much a pain in the ass as it is a convenience
  • lamontbdc
    lamontbdc Members Posts: 18,824 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    zombie wrote: »
    living in manhattan having a car is just as much a pain in the ass as it is a convenience

    yea my cousin got a spot off capitol hill in DC and he has to leave his car out at his sister house b/c there is no where for him to park.

  • N YO HOOD
    N YO HOOD Members Posts: 1,030 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    in California we drive only ? on public transportation either there car broke down or they broke
  • skpjr78
    skpjr78 Members Posts: 7,311 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Both. I have a v8 jeep comnander and the only production vehicle that has worse fuel efficiency is a hummer. When I lived in atl I rode the train as much as I could. I lived 15 mins from a train station and my job was within walking distance of a train station. I saved hundreds each month riding marta and I kept those stop and go rush hour miles off my vehicle. Using both worked out perfectly for me
  • Desi_416
    Desi_416 Members Posts: 724 ✭✭✭✭
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    I currently do both I caught a DUI last year (smh) so my licence is suspended, I'm past the sentencing period but I got a bunch of unpaid fines I gotta take care of before I get my licence back, I drive my girls whip though, her licence good and plates are clean, I gotta be mobile to make money and my son gotta get to school and in most cases public transportation ain't a reliable option. Our public transport in Toronto is always ? , buses be late, ain't showing up, almost everyday the subway gets shutdown somewhere and if u coming in from anywhere outside of the city U paying close to 20 for a round trip. Public transportation supposed to save u money but it works out almost the same, the convenience and luxury of a car is worth the couple extra dollars in my opinion, I just can't wait till I get my licence back so I ain't gotta be running offensive plays using other cars as blockers and ? checking my mirrors every 2 seconds for any sign of the cops.
  • Carthaginian
    Carthaginian Members Posts: 1,409 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    The biggest con with driving is having to deal with the idiocy of other people. The pro? Is the complete freedom to go anywhere at anytime you want.

    Public Transit has no pros.
  • dalyricalbandit
    dalyricalbandit Members, Moderators Posts: 67,918 Regulator
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    if im going into manhattan (anything below the Heights) Public trans is the way to go.

    anywhere else driving
  • Go figure
    Go figure Guests, Members, Confirm Email, Writer Posts: 4,662 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    i gotta go out to the burbs to start work, then come back in downtown
    no choice but to have a car

    public transportation is way less expensive tho. plate stickers, city stickers, pay to park, parking tix, gas, maintenance, etc (worse if u have an accident)

    having a car is way better but sometimes its good to just hop on the bus/train n let someone else do the driving
  • The Recipe
    The Recipe Members Posts: 10,570 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    They recently built light rail trains in my city them ? is goat.
  • nujerz84
    nujerz84 Members Posts: 15,418 ✭✭✭✭✭
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