http://www.indy.com/posts/8107 en-us kristofer Indeed, most people are better than riding the bus. The real better than attitude involves making our patterns of behavior conducive to the now. ps. there should be another thread for oil dependence discussion.. Fri, 16 May 2008 14:56:14 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/8107#comment_22458 http://www.indy.com/posts/8107#comment_22458 thelaughingman But you have to realize that the dependence on foreign oil is only an engineered situation. America does not need the Middle East for it's oil. It is an engineered dependency, and an engineered shortage. Unless there is a proper paradigm shift in the way people look at life, most of us here will not be willing to use public transit in the first place. Fri, 16 May 2008 14:41:16 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/8107#comment_22457 http://www.indy.com/posts/8107#comment_22457 kristofer This city is too broad for buses to be effective. The metro area population is nearly 2million but the population density is small. A more ideal solution would certainly cost some money, but the savings will go directly to the pockets of the people that use it. Improving public transit is key to improving the local economy and eliminating our dependence on oil. But as it stands, even popular routes are only every 20 minutes.. and only during rush hour. The #3 takes to and from downtown where all the other buses connect. It runs every twenty minutes between 6 and 7 am, and between 4 and 5 pm. It stops running at 7:30 pm. I catch the #37 to work every day. I have to leave my house at 6:20 am to make it to work by 8 am. There's only one transition too. If I'm spending money I want it to be efficient. Why can't I catch a bus home from the bar at 3am? If I have a flight 5:30 am I should be able to hop on the #8 and get there. It's imperative to support public transit in order improve it, and to end our dependence on foreign oil. That second one is another can of worms though.. Fri, 16 May 2008 14:37:51 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/8107#comment_22456 http://www.indy.com/posts/8107#comment_22456 thelaughingman Efficient public transport is an essential characteristic of a strong public community based life. The American Midwest is one of the few regions I have been to where public transit is so remarkably poor. Public transit not only saves gas, parking spaces, etc, it also brings people closer. A sense of connectedness and inter-dependency increases. Individual vehicles are divisive factors in society. They often act as social labels, as in when we say, this person drives a Civic, and this person drives an Infiniti, and this person drives a Hummer, and this person drives a Lamborghini Murcielago. Public transit acts as a great social equalizer, because at the end of the day, employer and employee both climb into the same train. Fri, 16 May 2008 14:02:12 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/8107#comment_22455 http://www.indy.com/posts/8107#comment_22455 PeaceLoveandHair I have been using our city's bus service for about 19 years now, off and on. They used to have more incentives, such as transfer ticket pricing for when you have to take more than one bus. I would definately agree that they need to make the bus passes more accessible. There are a lot of places to go that are on the bus line and I for one am not going to pay $3.95 for a gallon of gas! more people need to take the bus. Sincerely, Aaron King, Manager Peace, Love and Hair 1469 East 52nd Street 254-5655 peaceloveandhair@yahoo.com p. s. By the way, we are on the busline also. Wed, 14 May 2008 09:26:56 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/8107#comment_22310 http://www.indy.com/posts/8107#comment_22310