Public Transport

How is the public transport system at the place where you live?
Currently I am living in a suburb of Brisbane in Queensland (QLD) Australia. According to a recent newspaper article, they claimed that \"the Brisbane traffic was about as bad as that of Los Angeles'...\" Well, in reality, they don't come anywhere close to L.A. I know, because I lived in the L.A. area most of my life. Though they purchased a few brand new buses recently, but generally they are still reluctant to spend much money in the infrastructure of public transport.
However, there is a bright side to all of this chaos. I had travelled to many countries in the world, and I think the Aussies are probably among the more polite, more acceptable, more courteous, and more tolerant people. You rarely see people exiting the buses without saying thank you to the drivers. I even witnessed with my own eyes, an Asian gentleman pay the driver for the fare, accepted the ticket from the driver, take a deep bow, and said, \"xie xie ni...\" (I believe it means thank you in Chinese.) Though the driver may not understood what he said, but I am sure the gesture is universal.
Its also extremely rare that when I entered a bus or a train carriage full of passengers, no one would get up and offer me a seat simply because I was walking with a cane. I never had to say a word or to ask.<br><br>Post edited by: DAEMONICUSMEDICUS, at: 2007/10/15 01:16

Public transportation is miserable for anyone where I live. I live in a rural, so.......

Consider yourself lucky Bulldawg. I wish I live in a rural area just like yourself. I envy you, though not because of \&quot;miserable\&quot; public transport.

I went to London. We caught the 12.45pm train to London and we arrived in London at 3.30pm. Very friendly service. The plan was to get 2 buses to our destination as a taxi would have been £42. Anyway, we got on the first bus ok;

I was really impressed with the wheelchair access especially the electric ramp which pops out to cover the kerb, the driver doesn’t get out of his seat. He just presses a switch, and then I just ride on, even better wheelchair user’s ride free!

The bus took a bit long as we was on the bus for 2 hrs, the 2nd bus should only take 10mins but we had a little hiccup as we got on the right bus but in the wrong direction. Ohh dear, we noticed after been on the bus for 45mins a passenger said we are going in the wrong direction.

We had 2 options – get a taxi or just wait on the bus while the bus does a full circle. We decided to wait on the bus and we arrived at the University campus at 7.30pm so we had been travelling for 7 hours!!

Not very friendly service on the buses but good wheelchair access.

I noticed the buses both in USA and here in Australia provide very good wheelchair access. However, the people here in Australia are way more friendlier than most anywhere else that I have been to. Though I don't use a wheelchair, I only use a cane, the bus drivers often lower the ramp to let me in the bus a bit easier.