I am curious, how good is the public transportation in your city, and country. What are the city buses like? Is it easy to go between cities using public transport? How good are the trains? How many people use the public transport? In general any question relating to the quality and usage of public transport. I’m just curious because the quality of public transport dictates everyone’s daily commute
4 comments
UK
As long as it’s between maybe 8am and 8pm you can get to pretty much anywhere in the country on public transport, outside of those hours it’s a lot more limited but some earlier/later services will run. All towns and cities are connected and you don’t have to walk very far from where the bus/train/tram stops to get to your destination, a couple miles at most. It’s also covered pretty well by taxis which I know isn’t true everywhere
However it’s expensive (2-3x more than driving the same distance) and it’s slow (2-3x the journey time door to door… unless you’re in a very big city, in which case it’s probably about the same) and they have removed the guards from the buses and trains so depending where you’re going and at what hour of the day you might have to deal with bad or disruptive people that aren’t going to be removed unless the Police are called and meet up with it at a later stop
Nottingham city has very good public transport with one of the best tram and bus services in the whole country; outside of London anyways. There’s still a few places not connected to the tram network so could be considered a work in progress but for the most part it is quite good for those with access. And the bus network serves the entire city nicely.
But getting from Nottingham to other places can be a pain in the arse. There’s no direct trains to Coventry despite it being a decently sized city 40 miles away, a train to Norwich is slower than or equal in speed to a train to Newcastle, traveling to Cambridge can often be quicker taking an entire detour to London and back out…
> I am curious, how good is the public transportation in your city, and country.
It’s great (but somewhat expensive) in Stockholm. It’s often easier to travel within Stockholm by public transport than by car. Sometimes in the winter when there’s been sudden snow there are delays. We have regular buses, express buses, metro, commuter rail, commuter ferries, archipelago boats, light rail and trams.
> What are the city buses like?
They’re fine I suppose. They’re clean and regular and arrive with 5-7 minute intervals during rush hours.
> Is it easy to go between cities using public transport?
Yea. You can go to nearby cities (Uppsala, Bålsta, Södertälje etc) with commuter rail, and other cities by train.
> How good are the trains?
They’re fine. No complaints.
> How many people use the public transport?
There was an average of 0.5 travels by car per person by day and 0.8 travels by public transport per person per day within Stockholm [according to a 2019 report](https://www.regionstockholm.se/globalassets/2.-kollektivtrafik/fakta-om-sl-och-lanet/sl_och_regionen_2019_uppdaterad.pdf)
> In general any question relating to the quality and usage of public transport. I’m just curious because the quality of public transport dictates everyone’s daily commute
No major complaints, except prices and occasional snow delays.
Berlin:
> how good is the public transportation in your city,
Pretty much perfect.
> What are the city buses like?
OK. But I prefer the other modes: trams, S-Bahn, U-Bahn. All of them form a good network. The one criticism I have is that some buses and trams don’t run frequently enough. For example there’s a tram line next to my home that would be useful to me, but it only runs every 20 minutes, which is a non-starter. The vast majority of lines are more frequent though.
> How good are the trains?
I assume by trains you mean inter city trains and regional trains, not more local services like S-Bahn, U-Bahn, and trams, right?
In Germany overall, there is a problem with reliability and punctuality, but that’s more of an issue in the western parts. In Berlin it’s mostly fine.
> How many people use the public transport?
A decent amount. As of 2018, the modal share of public transportation in Berlin was 27%. That’s less than walking (30%) but more than motor vehicles (26%) and cycling (18%).
> Is it easy to go between cities using public transport?
Yes. I only use trains to get anywhere in the country and I rarely run into real issues. The high speed line through Thuringia has drastically improved the connection between Berlin and southern/western Germany.