Timewaster's Guide Archive
General => Rants and Stuff => Topic started by: JP Dogberry on April 05, 2004, 09:41:39 AM
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I normally do not have much of a problem with Brisbane's public transport system. It is afforable, comfortable, and not too slow. The buses are usually frequent enough.
In a months time, I have a convention I am looking forward to attending (and have already paid for). This convention will involve mucho roleplaying goodness (I have soemthing booked in every slot, which is way too many, and I'll be all Roleplayed out. But so mnay good things to try!)
Except on the Sunday and Monday (a public Holiday) the buses don't run early or late enough to get me there, or back. I think I can figure out something with my friend who lives a reasonably long walk away from the venue, but grrr....
I need to get there before 9:00 on the two days (That's game start, registration and breakfast starts at 8) and leace at 11:00. First bus there leaves at 8:00 (and it's an hour trip, plus walking to the venue after I get to the city). Last bus to leave is 8, a full three hours to early. The website suggested I catch the bus at 5 pm the previous day to get there on time.
Oh, and I was just playing a MUD (I fell to the darkside again) and spent forty minutes pressing the up arrow followed by the enter key to reel in a fish. And I didn't even get the fish at the end of it.
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You know, that's one nice thing about other countries. Public transportation, even in small cities, is well-used. In America, everyone is generally too fond of their cars (myself included) to use PT. The result is that the busses are generally filled with the poorer or stranger segment of the population, and when you do ride them, it feels rather uncomfortable. Big cities are different, I suspect, but every town I've lived in has been this way.
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in Japan it's all trains. There are buses, but they're not used as often, except to get from point a to point be where trains arent. Also most people have use bikes too.
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DC has good PT. The underground trians ("Metro", which as an aside, is what Las Vegas calls their police; so on my mission when I talked about riding the Metro people thought I was talking about being arrested or something) are very regular and the buses take up the slack for the outlying areas. Business professionals use them a lot. In addition, for those still attached to their cars or not accepting the capricious whims of whehter or not the busses will run on time, a hearty "slug line" culture has sprung up. Basically, people line up at the bus stops, and someone driving will pull along side, announce where he's going, and people that would be convenient for hop in. They don't wait for the bus, and the driver gets to use the carpool lanes. Kinda cool. It's how I got to early morning cons for Phi Theta Kappa back in the day.
But... "buy a car" is the only advice I have, since you rejected the cheaper solution of "get a room"
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And how am I supposed to drive it, given I am unlicensed and unskilled?
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it's always something with you, isn't it?
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I wouldn't get anywhere without the Provo busses. I've become so dependent on them I don't know how I"ll manage to move somewhere there's not a good PT system
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Um, I would think anywhere you move will have a better public transportation system than Provo...
Okay, I exaggerate. But any city the size of Provo or bigger, at least. There's only 1 bus route in the entire city, practically. At least, to get where I needed to go, that often happened to me. So I'd often spend over an hour to get from Provo to Orem, when a 15 minute bike ride would do the trick in good weather.
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well, keep in mind that the bus system in Provo is run by a company based in Salt Lake City. That's pretty far away for a single company to cover in one network.
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Yeah Like from DC to Fredricksburg
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Um, I would think anywhere you move will have a better public transportation system than Provo...
Okay, I exaggerate. But any city the size of Provo or bigger, at least. There's only 1 bus route in the entire city, practically. At least, to get where I needed to go, that often happened to me. So I'd often spend over an hour to get from Provo to Orem, when a 15 minute bike ride would do the trick in good weather.
Huh. Well I live close to two bus stops which take me either to class, or to the mall to pick up the car from my husband. The busses in provo run a LOT more frequently than in other cities I've been in, plus the driver are friendlier and the busses are cleaner.
I like being able to get on a bus and not worry about being mugged/raped/hit on. You've never seen the busses in Orlando.
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um I have, some routes are nice, but some are mobile ghettos.
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You must have been in some annoying places, PT-wise, then. Or Provo has improved. When I was there, the buses usually only ran once an hour or maybe every 1/2 hour if you were lucky. Of course, I'm comparing it to Boston and Chicago. I can pop down to the T and pick up the train every 10 minutes or so in rush hour, and the bus runs about every 15 minutes on weekdays. Now, on Sundays it gets pretty bad--maybe once every 45 minutes, so you have to be either slightly late to church or about 1/2 hour early. Or get a ride, which I've been doing a lot more of lately.
True--Boston and Chi are pretty safe. Except that you have to avoid the red and green lines in Chi at night, or you could get stabbed. So there is the safety factor.
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:o
Red & green lines? Is that a new type of racism?
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no, it's acolor code for what route the trains take.
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I was joking. But I did want to know why certain lines would increase your chances of a fatal wound. I guess the area of town makes sense.
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in Japan it's all trains. There are buses, but they're not used as often, except to get from point a to point be where trains arent. Also most people have use bikes too.
Ok, I can't let this go. Spriggan, you are great. point a to point be. heh...
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Can't you tell, Gemm? He's being existential.
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heh, so busses can take you to hell AND to reality.
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Oh man, don't mention existentialist to me. I hate those guys(or girls). They're so stupid. To put it bluntly.
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Are they stupid, or do you just *think* they are stupid? Maybe you think they are stupid because they exist, and you don't, and you envy them because you wished you existed.
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/me organizes a campaign to stop believing JP exists
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Ah, but JP, how do you know they exist? For all you know, they could just be an illusion conjured up by your troubled subconscious.
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I know they exist because that makes them exist, and I want them to exist just to spite you.
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But I want them not to exist. Therefore they do not exist. They spite me not.
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But they do exist, cos I believe they exist, and you're wrong. See, I, being older, have had more experiences and so know more about the world so if I say something exists and you don't, you must be wrong.
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First, you have made a big mistake - Just because you are older does not mean you have had more experiences than me. Bad assumption to make. In fact, its bad to assume. But anyway.
And if you want to go by age, I, being younger, and having a clearer view of the world (plus, because I'm a teenager and thus I know everything) I can see what does and does not exist. Thus what you think exists is irrelevant.
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What I think exists? if you are thinking in terms of what you "Think" exists, then I've already won, because I "know" what exists.
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ugg, please not this again.
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all of which is irrelevant, because neither of you exist. I won't get all epistomological on your ***, but that's just the way it is.
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/me cries.
But I really, really want to exist!
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well, according to the bylaws of the Blue Fairy, if you're a good boy and don't become an ass, and you listen to this little cockroach we'll assign to you as a mentor, one day you MAY exist.
If we feel like granting such a thing.