Public Transportation

Kathleen Bragas
ID # 1743274
ENGL 102 - 280
Prof. K. Buchanan

The Public Transportation Revolution

For as long as I can remember, public transportation has been a bittersweet experience. Trains and busses are reliable, convenient and very environmentally friendly. They help a city become more interconnected and overall seem like rather enjoyable experience. But, a problem that seems to be repetitively irritating me is that there are also so many negative effects about the poor state of public transportation that have not yet been taken into account. By taking a means of public transportation on a daily bases, I have been able to fully witness and experience some of the most horrible and embarrassing things during a bus or train ride. The inaccessibility of public transportation, the vehicle itself, and the lack of security one may feel in the vehicle are all reasons why I feel that modifications must be made about the poor state of public transportation.
To begin with, the inaccessibility of busses and trains need to be improved in such a way that would equally please everyone. Living in a city where winter includes extremely cold and icy weather conditions my main priority is usually just to find a bus and warm up. Unfortunately they fail to be more available. For example, the busses 6 and 73 from Southgate Mall both go to Millwoods Town Centre, unfortunately their schedules are extremely similar. Which makes no sense as this only allows the bus to be less crowded of people, but does not make it any more accessible than before. Also, if you think that taking the train would be even more convenient than the bus, you’d probably be just as mad as I was, to find out that it takes even longer. By the time you get off the train and walk to the transit there is a great chance that you still have to wait for a bus to take you to your last destination. In order to improve these conditions, the transit system should modify the bus schedules so that busses with the same destination should come after one another, and finally, collaborate the train and bus times.

In brief, if all these improvement were to be made, public transportation would surely be more accessible. Unfortunately, there are more things that need to be improved.
In addition to the inaccessibility of public transportation, the conditions of the busses and trains itself are quite horrid and also need to ameliorate. Sadly, the interior of the bus is dangerous. During the winter or rain season, the floors become very wet and as a result become extremely dangerous. When walking on the floors to get on or off the bus it is awfully easy for someone to slip and fall straight to the ground, ultimately causing a lot of pain and embarrassment. Also, when busses tend to become crowded others are left to stand and hold on to a bar and, if you’re lucky a loop handle hanging from higher bars. I believe that this is unbeneficial to those who, like me, are short and attempting to hang onto a looped handle that is way too high for you is unsafe. This happened to me once: the bus was crowded and I was hanging on to the handle tightly but as soon as the bus driver made a sharp turn I was caught off guard, and fell on top of a man sitting down in front of me. In any case, the public transportation system definitely needs to reconsider the interior design of the bus and modify it to make it safer for a variety of different people. However, the safety of those taking the bus and the bus drivers themselves should additionally be considered.
Finally, the unsecure transit areas need to be improved in order to provide security for the bus drivers and those taking a public vehicle. Taking the bus or train during evenings or late nights can be dangerous as there are certain individuals that cause trouble. Although there are cameras in the pedway’s and transit stops it does not aid anyone if there was a murderer or an individual causing problems at that very moment. For this reason, I try to avoid taking a means of public transportation during those times. Bus drivers are also at a risk as they’re could be a single individual that can cause harm to the bus driver while driving and consequently affect those on the bus. On Thursday March 2, 2006 a brutal beating occurred to a fellow passenger on a bus by four youths in Edmonton, Alberta. The passenger was rushed to the hospital in critical condition but died on the way. According to the article on the CTV website, witnesses explain that they “do not feel as safe as they once did”.

And the fact that there has been, “301 violent incidents reported in 2005,” and the crime rate continuing to increase each year, it is quite clear that a change has to be made. I personally believe that there should be security guards or even peace keepers in areas where cases like this are common. In doing so, this will provide security to everyone, ultimately making public transportation a more suitable experience.
In conclusion, there are a lot of pros and cons about public transportation. The cons however seem to over ride the pros and cause individuals to dislike public transportation. But if the public transportation improved their poor conditions by modifying schedules to become more available, changing the interior design of the vehicles to allow safer trips, and provide security by getting security guards and peacekeepers. Then there is no doubt that public transportation will be more beneficial.

WORKS CITED:
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20060303/edmonton_beating_060303/

Cited: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20060303/edmonton_beating_060303/