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shanghaibebop ,

Defecto “free” ridership has really hurt the local public transport system in the SF Bay Area.

Quite a lot of people refuse to take public transit due to risks of being harassed or witnessing open drug use. Easy to dismiss that as a guy personally, but I definitely think that creates an environment that’s hostile to many people who need to use or would otherwise be using public transit.

On the other hand, Margerite bus at Stanford has been free for decades, and it’s never been a significant issue there.

So it’s very difficult to generalize across different systems that have their own unique issues.

Laneus ,
@Laneus@beehaw.org avatar

I feel like the problem there is less the free transit, and more how many people we’ve let fall to the bottom of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

dinodrinkstea ,
@dinodrinkstea@beehaw.org avatar

Yes, if people are complaining that there are Dirty Dangerous Poors™️ there, maybe house people instead of trying to remove them from public 🤷🏻‍♂️

Dandylion ,

We have free transit in Albuquerque. It’s basically turned into a rolling homeless shelter. They hired security to manage it. My dad was one of those. He was attacked by someone using drugs on the bus and had the back of his hand bit off in a brutal attack. The busses here are VERY dangerous and I’d never step foot on one again.

otsana ,

I ride the Albuquerque buses to and from work. The worst I’ve seen is an intoxicated guy being thrown off by the driver. I’ve also seen a couple people kicked off for riding a full route, which I guess is how they keep people from riding all day. For reference, I’m a smallish woman, usually carrying a messenger bag. I’ve never been bothered.

snowbell ,
@snowbell@beehaw.org avatar

What happened to @Dandylion’s dad is horrifying, though. That is exactly the kind of stuff that keeps me off public transit as well. “It never happened to me” isn’t really a valid argument.

mtset ,
@mtset@beehaw.org avatar

Sure, but “our city handles homelessness poorly” isn’t a good argument for not improving public transit either!

snowbell ,
@snowbell@beehaw.org avatar

I was thinking more like that solving the homelessness problem needs to be a part of improving public transit, and cities in general. Nothing made me want a personal vehicle more than being forced to ride public transit. Every day I’d look at the people passing us by in cars and say to myself “One day, that is gonna be me!”

It is me, now.

Rentlar ,

Well, there’s a sign that you need better housing solutions for homeless than the bus.

offthecrossbar ,

It’s true that you’ll probably see something unpleasant on public transit once in a while but most folks aren’t going to share the experience of someone who is literally tasked with engaging with and managing the people causing problems on the bus.

It’s unfortunate though because in my experience transit feels a lot more pleasant when there are at least a decent amount of people riding with you. When people start to feel unsafe and stop riding, it can drive further people away if they have other transportation options.

AuroraRose ,
@AuroraRose@beehaw.org avatar

This was my immediate thought.

mtset ,
@mtset@beehaw.org avatar

Eeh? I’m a woman, I don’t have this problem on transit at all, either in Chicagoland or in SF. First of all, witnessing open drug use isn’t, like, the end of the world; it might make you uncomfortable, but it’s not dangerous.

Being harassed is a real fear, but I find that I’m more often harassed while I’m just walking around than in a bus, train, or the muni, and when I’m on board transit there are cameras and an operator to potentially step in!

Public transit is a public good. If seeing poor people and drug users makes us uncomfortable, the solution is to address the root causes of poverty and addiction, not to force poor people off of public transit.

shanghaibebop ,

You might not, and neither do I have a problem with it. I grew up low income and rode plenty of “sketchy” bus lines where fights would break out. I know when to remove yourself from danger.

Plenty of people I know have, or at least have that perception. My S/Os parents visited from out of the country, and they were harassed by someone screaming racist epithets at them and got scared, and ended up taking Uber the rest of the time they were here. They are old, retired, and we didn’t want to risk them getting uncomfortable. Obviously we have the privilege of doing that, but not everyone does.

Again, it’s not about being poor, it’s about antisocial behavior that destroys the public spaces. That goes for rich assholes too.

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