Public transport...

How can people be expected to ditch their cars when it is easier and, I feel, overall cheaper to travel by car.

It takes me an hour every day to take the bus to uni, if I had a car I'd be there in 15 mins. Why don't we see serious steps made to improve our public transport. The tube is a nightmare in rush hour, and all other short people will agree it is very uncomfortable being surrounded by tall people, being squished and not being able to see which station your at if you miss the announcement. Also, public transport normally requires at least a mile walk to get to or I can fall out of my house, put a key in my car and be sitting all the way to work in the comfort of my own private space having walked about 50metres. Public transport is rubbish and our governments don't care.

Whos bright idea it was to deprivatise our public transport? Have public transport companies aiming to improve profits rather than service... F for effort and a dunce hat for such a dumbass idea... go sit in the corner you idiot.

Today on the bus it was packed out, I had to stand for half of my travel, and once I did find a seat I was bashed by everyone getting on the bus because of the fat person sitting next to me. When he got off I was squished by fat people sitting next to me. I don't understand how someone who uses public transport can be fat, they should have to pay double, but anyways.

We need a country where it is easier to travel by bus/rail than by car. We need a country where it is cheaper to travel by bus than by car... not because cars are made too expensive, but because public transport is made cheaper. Theres a thing called economies of scale. I lost my wallet getting off a coach in central london and then couldn't get anywhere because I had no money... how much fun I had. Public transport would be free if I was in charge; travel is a neccessity in our world. So are energy, water and food but I'll leave that for now.

I could go on forever but I suppose I'll just put this and see what other people think.

I agree...here in Vancouver they've just added a fleet of used buses purchased from San Fran - clean emission diesels and some electric trollies. The Problem is that there ARE a lot of people who commute using public transport - at an average of about 300 to 1 for every bus in service. The average bus can hold a great deal of passengers though They move over 7200 people per hour...the Sky Train (light rail transit system) is nearly double that.

It's privatized out here too and it's ridiculous...even with government subsidy the system cannot handle the amount of people...though they love to promote it like mad...it's an inept system.

The new fleet was only 100 buses for the whole of GVRD (comprised of three sprawling cities)...only 300. They just closed a bunch of routes, and in one neighboring city they terminated some important routes to set up shuttles in communities... (Richmond BC)...

While there are buses running like every 15 minutes on major routes...like you said, the buses to U of BC or Simon Fraser are always full...if you're lucky enough to squeeze on at all...otherwise you can expect four or sometimes even five FULL buses to pass you by not accepting any more passengers.

Coast Mountain Bus Company is the culprit. Private company looking to make profit above offering quality service...on quality vehicles...shoddy all around.

I despise riding buses as much as the next person, but I think the real problem is not public transportation, but that our road networks are more appropriately designed for private vehicles and not bus routes. Think about it. If you have every visited Disney Land or World, their transit system is cats arse, because it is designed to be the only system used for people to get where they are going without competiition from other means and it also offers multiple ways to get where you're going depending on your needs or desires. They also have extra capacity so that overcrowding doesn't happen that often.

Now take a city that is designed primarily for personal transportation since the horse and buggy days and then try to compete with that with an underfunded system, you're bound to create a really demeaning and undesireable way to travel.