A Love Affair With Transit, Part 1

Most people know the bus as that big vehicle that passes down major streets and stops whenever a person(s) stand at the signs at the side of the road. It’s like a mystical land that they sometimes think about visiting, but end up backing down after some thought. What a lot of people don’t know is just how awesome that “mystical land” is and how many benefits visiting it carries.

It’s actually quite unfortunate how a good portion of America views public transit. Aside from residents of cities that are dense enough to necessitate high transit usage (New York and Chicago come to mind) most people think of the bus as the domain of the poor, homeless, and criminal and/or that they are “too good” for the bus. Yet others are out there that just make excuses, like their trips taking longer, no privacy, et cetera. In cities that have train systems, the public view tends to be a bit more positive than the bus, but it is still quite negative. These opinions come in part from the jacked up vision of what the “American Dream” is, or more generally, what an “ideal life” is supposed to be like. Thanks to irresponsible media programming, greed, and some other factors that are harder to grasp, that view tends to be a life in the suburbs, away from the “icky” city centers; house with a big yard, two-three children, and more to that extent. While these factors are most certainly topics for future posts, the main point for this one is that part of that “dream” involves the car.

America, as well as some of the other industrialized nations of the world, has come to worship the car. Only a minority of the population wants to take advantage of some great transit systems that are much better for the environment and much more affordable; most everyone wants to cruise around in a big, fancy car or truck.

What people in general need to realize is that the automobile ain’t all that and no bag of chips. Let me tell you right now: Dark Serge ain’t a big fan of a multi-ton potential death machine that belches all kinds of crap into the air and that costs oodles of money to run and insure. He prefers clean-traveling, efficient buses and trains that take him where he needs to go with little concern for expense and road rage–and you should too. Wihout further ado, I present you with my Reasons Public Transit is Awesome!

1. It’s Affordable

Remember back in 2008 and such when gas prices reached their most recent peak at a little under $4 a gallon (and in some places, even a little under $5 a gallon?) Guess what segment of the population didn’t sweat it much at all? That’s right, transit riders! (In fact, many people who would have normally driven packed the buses and trains to save money!)

While some transit agencies raised fares to help cover the extra cost for fueling up their buses and trains, that fare increase was nowhere near the increased cost of driving. In fact, transit has always been, and always will be, cheaper than the car.

Let’s imagine a guy named Paul. He lives in Garland, a short bus ride away from Downtown Garland Station on the Blue Line. He owns an average car. It gets 20 mpg, on average, in the city. He has an average American commute, 32 miles every day, for five days a week. In other words, 160 miles a week for commuting. In his personal case it’s from Central Garland to West Irving. Factoring in his other activities, his weekly mileage total is the same as the American average, 230 miles. Gasoline is around $2.80 a gallon. Every week, he spends $32.20 on gas. In a month, that’s $128.80. Keep in mind, this is only gas–he’s also spending $145 a month on insurance, the American average. Then we throw in 15 more dollars for miscellaneous costs like upkeep. That means it costs Paul $288.80 a month to drive.

You can just *feel* your wallet getting lighter, can't you?

Now, guess how much DART charges a month for a regional bus/train pass–not just DART on the Dallas side, but one that also includes Fort Worth’s “T”?

$105.

That means it costs less than half of his driving cost to just take the bus and train.

I don’t know about you, but I’d want to save some money by taking transit rather than driving. I think you would too, actually. According to the American Public Transportation Association, households that use public transportation and live with one less car can save on average $9,000 every year.

What’s more, some people can save even more than the average by using transit just because of who they are. Do you work for a major company that subsidizes transit passes? Are you a high school student eligible for reduced fare? Are you a college student whose institution offers passes to students, faculty, and staff? If so, then there you go! Transit just got even better for you.

2. Hello There!

Recent studies show that despite the advent of the World Wide Web, proliferation of social media, and other related factors, the average American has fewer close friends today than the average American had in 1980 (Statistics on the number of mere acquaintances are probably the opposite, however.) We are in actuality becoming more isolated from each other.

“But I have 500 friends on Facebook!”

Oh, believe me, I know you do. But think about it: how many of them ‘friends’ do you actually hang out with frequently, on a one-to-one or small-group basis? (No, parties don’t count.) How many of them do you talk to daily or semi-daily? I thought so. Our expanding isolation from others, and in the process isolation from our communities, is caused by and manifests itself in many different ways.

One way it’s manifest is by our isolation while traveling. Instead of hopping onto the local transit system where there’s other people to possibly interact with, most people opt to travel in their own little cubbyhole–their car or truck. This leads to more isolation, and in turn helps feed apathy toward gaping social and economic problems like outcastism and homelessness cause of people distancing themselves from said problems. That is a dangerous trend (and probably part of the reason why the Republican Party is even still viable). We need to reconnect with our communities, and one of the ways we can do that is through interaction on transit.

3. Lose Yourself in a Book… Without Crashing into a Street Light!

One of the most common criticisms of transit is that it takes longer to get places than if you were to drive. For example, it takes an hour to get from Fort Worth to Richardson by car, but takes 2.5-3 hours if you take transit. There is a gaping hole in the critics’ argument, however:

Have you ever tried reading while driving? Typing on a computer? Surfing the Internet? Finishing some written/electronic work? Playing a video game? Hint: if you haven’t, don’t. If you have, shame on your ass.

What I’m getting at is that while transit takes longer, you’re able to make productive use of that time, because you’re not the one with hands on the wheel driving. You can pull out a book and read without running off the road. You can surf the Internet, assuming you either have a cell tower Internet connection for your laptop or you’re on a vehicle with WiFi such as the Trinity Railway Express here in North Texas. You can whip out your PSP, DS, laptop, or iPod touch/iPhone and play a video game (just make sure to wear your headphones!). You can make good use of that longer period to enjoy some light leisure or get some work done, instead of having to concentrate on the road and/or engaging in road rage.

4. Ahh, the Smell of Nature (Rather Than the Smell of Pollution)

Us environmentalists are in love with public transit for a very good reason: According to the American Public Transportation Association, municipalities that have public transit help to reduce the nation’s carbon emissions by 37 million metric tons each year, which is the same as if New York City, DC, Atlanta, Denver, and Los Angeles combined totally stopped using electricity. It’s much more fuel/energy efficient to move a whole lot of people in a huge vehicle (such as 30 people on a bus) than if the same amount of people were to each drive even a small car. The benefits increase when we talk trains – DART even boasts that their light rail vehicles have the emissions of an average golf cart. They also have much better capacity than buses–DART’s trains, classified as “Super Light Rail Vehicles”, carry 150-200 people each!

Not just light rail. SUPAH light rail!

Just one person riding transit exclusively saves an average of 4,800 pounds of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the atmosphere annually. Taking transit can also reduce pointless travel, saving even more energy and reducing pollution a bit more.

Then, there’s the political side of it. Our main fuel is of course gasoline, made from crude oil. Most of that oil comes from countries that are quite hostile toward us, mainly in northern South America and the Middle East. We are pretty much dependent on a lot of our enemies just to keep this country going! How much sense does THAT make?! If just 10% – *ten percent!* – of Americans took public transit daily, we could reduce our foreign oil dependence by 40 percent! That’s almost half! (Yes, I know that was narmy. So sue me.)

5. Ready for a Run?

Everyone knows America is fat, and only getting fatter. We hear a lot about our diet and exercise issues, but most of the people talking about all this miss a big contributor to this problem – our cars!

Seriously, look at it: You walk a few feet to a garage or a bit more if you have to go to an apartment complex parking lot, and are mostly shaded while doing it. You simply sit in the car, moving only your feet a bit to operate pedals, then get out close to your destination.

It’s much different for us transit riders. Most of the population in transit-utilizing communities do not have (a) bus route(s) running right in front of their house, and even fewer have an actual, physical bus stop directly in front of their house. Most of the time, you have to walk to the bus stop, or in the case of some places that are more distant from stops (very common in the suburbs), bike there. That is much better for being active and getting exercise than just plopping down into a car. It’s even more of a workout when you realize you’re running late and have to RUN! to the bus stop to make it before your bus leaves.

HOME FREE!

Then there’s transfers. Many, if not most, transit trips involve transferring from one route to another and/or transferring between two routes of different modes of transport (such as from a bus to a light rail line at a train station). You gotta walk and make it, after all.

Finally, we get to the final part – deboarding. Like when you’re boarding, you rarely get dropped off right in front of your destination. Most of the time, you have to walk or bike to where you need to go from there.

All of what I mentioned is much more active than driving. Helps you keep more in shape when you gotta walk and bike some, eh?

So there you have it. A Love Affair With Transit, Part One. Not to toot my own horn, but I’m fairly sure I made a pretty dang good case for transit already. But don’t worry, there’s more coming up later on, cause Transit is the Ticket!

Attention Passengers!

Rider Alert! Rider Alert! Rider Alert!

Okay, not really. It ain’t official or anything. But I do have some suggestions for anyone riding trains and/or buses of the DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit), TRE (Trinity Railway Express), T (Fort Worth Transportation Authority), or any other transit agency on Earth.

* Smokers, if you want to trash your lungs, I don’t care. Y’all dying off early keeps the population numbers in check anyway. I do start caring, however, when you light up at the bus stop or train platform with other passengers waiting. Some of us may be allergic to your smoke, can’t stand the smell, or actually care about our health. Now, I am aware that smokers, especially the younger ones, are the kind of people who generally don’t give a flying rat’s about anything but their own narrow asses (those who do, I am not talking about you). If you’re one of those people, you obviously don’t care about others, but think about stepping to a secluded part of the platform as a form of insurance against lawsuits. 🙂

* Parents, keep your kids in check. Don’t let them run around the vehicle and shut their little mouths up if they start crying or yelling or making any other annoying little kid sounds. For those who already do that, Dark Serge applauds you. If you are the kind of parent who has these stupid little conversations with your kids, talk in baby/toddler talk, can’t control your kids, don’t want to control your kids, or anything like that, do us all a favor and get a minivan. Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for people using public transit – it’s great seeing a train or bus crowded cause it means fewer cars on the road – but some people just need to stay their asses off the buses and trains. Y’all are part of that group.

* People riding with their significant others, keep public affection to hugs and walking arm-in-arm please. Sometimes I just got finished eating within the past hour or two before boarding, and would like to digest that food rather than hurl it back up. For kissing, ass-grabbing, dirty talk, sticking your tongues down each other’s throats, and similar activities, please rent a room or save that crap for when you get back home. Don’t worry, hotels are everywhere – there’s even a tunnel from Union Station to the Dallas Hyatt. Try it! (Note, added 4/4/10: Yes, ‘pecks’ ‘little kisses’ I’d consider under the kissing category here. They are still fairly disgusting. Also, it and the other stuff listed makes people like me who can’t get relationships to save our lives feel even worse cause of our lack of love.)

* Cell phone talkers, please keep phone conversations to non-personal content only. I really don’t need or want to know that your sister and her boyfriend conceived a baby in the back of a Ford Explorer while their threesome partner drove down the LBJ.

* Water and soap is not that dang expensive! If you smell like corn chips and ass, stay your ass off the train or bus and TAKE A SHOWER!

If you are a responsible rider who boards and de-boards (?) the bus/train in a responsible manner, follows the above guidelines, and is friendly, congratulations and keep up the good work! 😉

This has been a Public Transit Rider Alert from Dark Serge, thanks for listening!

UT Dallas: The First Couple Weeks (Or, Dork Meets Outside World)

As you probably know by now, I am a dork. I grew up in the city town big city with a small town feel city known as Fort Worth, and did not really leave the local area much. I have been to the Las Vegas area once, and to Marshall a few times as well. I had been to Dallas a few times as well, but not as much as Marshall.

When I traveled on the train to UT Dallas (probably more accurate to call it UT Richardson) to settle a financial aid issue, that marked the first time I had stopped in Dallas County in about one and a half years. It was when I stepped off the TRE train (the one that travels between Fort Worth and Dallas) to transfer to the northbound DART Red Line train at Union Station. The weird thing is, I count my stopping here as being Collin County (which I haven’t been to since I was like seven) because, well, it is. The campus is right on the county line of Dallas and Collin counties, Drive A on the south central part of the campus being a good comparison to where the actual line is, although it’s technically a bit further north of that. Anyway, the next time I traveled here was on the 5th of this month, for transfer orientation, and the couple times after that were to attend classes, as my room was not ready to move into until the Wednesday of the first week of classes (the 13th).

That brings me to the first thing I love about UTD – the fact I can travel between my home and the campus exclusively by bus and train. You see, I ain’t got my driver’s license yet, so I can’t drive between the two places; yet, even when I do start driving and get a car and all that, I will still be opting for public transport where viable, for several reasons: I am an environmentalist and prefer to minimize unneeded driving when taking the bus and/or train is a good option, I think it’s nice to be able to just sit and ride somewhere rather than being behind a wheel, and I also want to minimize costs. Hey, gas is expensive! It’s much cheaper to take public transport, and in my case there is almost no direct cost to me – UTD provides a regional transit pass service to students and staff here, meaning I can ride all of the Dallas buses and trains, the TRE between Dallas and Fort Worth, and all the Fort Worth buses all I want, with the cost of the pass being pretty much part of tuition (no extra fees on your tuition for the pass) – so it’s much better moneywise for me to take the train/bus.

When I was up at UNT (Denton) for the short time I was last semester, there was no real connection between there and home for me, as there is nothing, not even a bus, between Fort Worth and Denton. Sure, I could ride the Denton buses for free, but sheesh. UTD is much more public transport friendly.

I’ve also noticed the people are friendlier. When I was up at UNT, my hallway was full of jocks and jerks, with some general bad people thrown in. There were very few exceptions. My roommate was a frat boy, and college dorks’ social lives (if they get one) usually depends on roommates first, so having an undesirable roommate to start my college career was very bad luck on my part.

My first couple days were pretty much what you’d expect with college classes, just getting to know the curriculum and meeting the professors and such. I moved in on Wednesday and met my roommates, and they were friendly and all. I overall had a better feeling about here than UNT in terms of class quality and especially social progress. The latter is why I am not going to UNT anymore – there was too much resistance to a dork wanting to live missed youth and develop a good social circle.

The people I have talked to here have been much better at wanting to directly help me (rather than just giving out crappy ‘advice’ and not doing anything themselves) and progress has been made, and has gone fairly smoothly, with the exception of a small conflict with my roommates that has since been resolved. I’ve been included in things, and have been developing a healthy social life for the first time. My classes are going well, and I enjoy them, with the exception of college algebra. I am majoring in Emerging Media and Communication (basically internet media), and have three related classes which I enjoy very much. I feel that this is the place for me, and that I will make good grades and have fun here. My main goals, aside from education, are to finally have a group of close friends I fit in with along with a wider social network, and also to live the youth I missed out on by doing fun stuff (I actually have a list) and making memories. That kind of stuff I don’t really have much experience in, since I had pretty much no friends for the vast majority of my “childhood”.

Now, a couple details. The Monday of the long weekend, I went to Northpark for the first time, and just looked around. What I also did for the first time was step into some of them overhyped “cool kid” brand stores, because I have been curious as to how much that stuff costs. Let me put it this way: I could get an entire outfit at Burlington Coat Factory for over 25% less than the price of one average pair of jeans at that Abercrombie store I went into. Who on Earth pays 80 bucks for one pair of jeans? I mean come on now, is that really worth it? The only real difference between those and the discount jeans I find at Burlington is the design of and on the rear pockets, and maybe a couple other minor things as well. I guess the reason this stuff sells so well despite outrageous prices is because it has become a status symbol for the “popular” types. What’s really interesting is, the pair of jeans I saw the $80 price tag on were the exact same as the pair I saw this rich kid who sat next to me in my computer class wearing on regular occasions. Ain’t that quite a coincidence?

Most weekdays since then have been just the usual routine that has developed for me here – going to my classes, studying, and doing simple social things like eating with people and hanging out around the campus. Weekends have consisted of things like going to dinner and other nearby venues, as well as stuff on campus. It seems like I am making a lot of my social goals, which, in a nutshell, involve fitting in, feeling wanted, and recovering youth I missed out on. I’m looking forward to the likelihood of all that happening, and some more exciting stuff too.