Ekdog

The Danes know how to get people out of their cars and onto buses.

Artkansas 

The hype is strong with this one.

Ekdog

They're having fun at the expense of the cars companies and their ads.

Walter S

It always amuses me to see adds on BF saying not to eat bannanas.

tandempower

I like the sequel even better.

I-Like-To-Bike

From the sequel, "If you are dreaming of a fantastic life on the bus..." LCF daydreamers have just the ticket!

Ekdog

Here it is. Hope it's not too risqué for the conservatives who frequent this forum.

tandempower

Your dreams consist primarily of ridiculing people for dreaming, don't they?

tandempower

It's not intended as erotic. I think the sexual references are tongue-in-cheek.

Ekdog

I know, but parody seems to fly right over the heads of some.

wolfchild

Public transit is a hard sell for people who have other options. It is a fact that majority of bus users here in the suburbs do so because of financial reasons, they simply can't afford a car or they own a car but are trying to save money on gas and maintenance so they take a bus. Not too many people ride a bus for fun or entertainment. The reality of public transit is that it can be very frustrating at times. For example, our commuter trains here in my city have serious problems during very cold, icy, snowy winter days, the track switches and other controls freeze during very cold weather and there are many delays and cancelations. The same thing with streetcars in downtown Toronto which are very old and past their useful service life and just can't hold up to very cold temperatures anymore. The snow drifts make it hard for people to walk to a bus stops and shelters. Canadian winters are hard on public transit commuters. I rather ride my bike.

I-Like-To-Bike

Ya mean hip, parody videos are not likely to sell bus tickets to anybody but those already on that bus? Who wudda thunk it?

Walter S

I ride the bus regularly, and frequently read or catch up on email while doing it. I'm not sure I'd say I'm in "the suburbs" exactly. I don't see how that would matter. I also don't do it for "fun and entertainment". I'm one of those weirdos that use public transportation for transportation.

edit: I'm a software architect and could easily afford to own cars.

wolfchild

Are you sure it's only for transportation ??..Or do you also get "fun and entertainment" from picking up hot and hip chicks that ride the public transit ??

B. Carfree

I think that might vary considerably with location. When I'm in the Sacramento area, which happens quite a bit, I stay in a suburb and often ride the bus into the city. My fellow passengers from this upper middle-class suburb all have plenty of disposable income, but still fill the buses. There is quite a bit of social interaction among the regulars, so it sure looks like part of the attraction is along the lines of entertainment.

While one can never truly know what is motivating other people, I suspect the folks on the bus are riding because it is convenient relative to driving (and parking) and because it fits with their sense of themselves as responsible environmentally inclined citizens.

Back up in Eugene, it's a totally different situation. There are almost no people on the bus who have other options. Interestingly, the incomes and education levels here are a lot lower than where people with upper middle-class incomes choose to ride the bus.

Walter S

No, that's not entertainment. It's just my modus-operandi.

squegeeboo

Was the molotov cocktail some kind of super fancy champagne? There's no way the ABV of champagne is enough for that to work.

mconlonx

Awesome. But since the 70s I've been lamenting the plush of euro buses vs. the utilitarian fare we have here in the US. If USA public transit was as swank, perhaps we'd have more riders... but then again, perhaps we'd have more vandalism...

tandempower

"Selling" public transit in this way is important because of the cultural lag between the growing practicality of alternatives to driving and their popularization. Obviously there's a reason driving became almost ubiquitous through the first generation of suburban development where traffic between suburbs and the city was relatively sparse and unidirectional. Now that ubiquitous driving has compounded into multidirectional traffic to- and from- multiple areas of counties, infrastructure is faced with the choice of expanding lanes and bypasses or grow public transit as a means of facilitating greater traffic flows and densities without expanding road networks.

There is a danger that if people keep digging in their heels against taking the bus that roads will be widened and bypasses built as is happening in many areas already. The ultimate problem with that solution (beyond the immediate costs and degradation of public space) is that it can't continue through multiple generations of population/economic growth. You can only bypass and widen bypasses so many times before functionality is lost completely. Already people spend ridiculous amounts of time driving distances that should go must faster but can't because of all the traffic and re-directioning.

So even if there are issues with public transit, they are ultimately not as bad as the issues of driving in an expanding road network, not to mention the expanding costs of building and maintaining all those roads, lanes, bypasses, overpasses, etc. I'm surprised more public discussion hasn't emerged following the collapse of the clover leaf where a construction worker was killed.

There needs to be public awareness that vast mazes of crumbling infrastructure aren't something we should want to burden future generations with. Public transit is a way of consolidating motor-traffic to reduce the need for road-network expansion. Bikable/walkable localities are even better but buses have the potential to consolidate multitudes of automobile traffic down to a handful of full buses on the roads. Obviously, thinning traffic in this way is also better for traffic flow for everyone who drives instead of taking the bus.

Why do people resist this obvious fact? It has been widely known to the public for decades upon decades. Answer: because the rat race is about everyone competing to stay ahead of the curve that they perceive as a demotion from normalcy - so as long as driving is normalized, people will fight against being the one 'demoted' to riding the bus - hence the need for commercials like this.

tandempower

I think that was some kind of super-deep metaphor regarding the relationship between business success, the oil/fuel industry, and driving as a status symbol. Perhaps it was also commentary on the relationship between fuel waste and business success.

Archwhorides 

+1. The task is to bring public transportation (along with bike culture) to critical mass, so that the stigma of using buses/subways/etc. is eliminated. If the attitudes of younger people can be shaped to embrace the low-carbon alternatives, there is hope that when the currently conventional suburbanites die off, a better order can take root. European cities have pioneered this model, and progressive cities in the U.S. are getting there, but urban/village population densities are required, which is a long stretch for much of the U.S.

Ekdog

Mexico's first-class buses are much nicer than anything I've seen either in the States or here in Iberia.

Roody

I enjoy riding the bus.

tandempower

There is a special challenge in already-sprawling areas, such as many US cities, to make public transit and transportation-cycling an option that is a viable choice alongside driving. This prevents motor-lane infill of sprawling areas that are detrimental to green space and quality of life generally. Sprawling areas either fill-in gradually, leading to more density over a larger area OR the continue to sprawl outward, which will eventually lead to motor-lane infill and bypass-widening and bypass-bypassing.

Mixed-use development is making car-free living possible in remote suburban areas by putting apartments and shopping together in the same complex, often with walkable/bikable greenspace to make living there comfortable and healthy without constantly needing to travel elsewhere. Such mixed-use communities of business and residential living can be linked with other such areas, with stops in between where subdivision residents can ride. Bike-sharing or bike parking at transit stops allow transit riders to bike between home and the bus stop.


Suburbs are not permanently unbikeable and inconvenient to transit use. There just needs to be transit lines and bike paths/lanes available so that people have the option of leaving the car parked instead of sitting in motor-congestion when growth begins to push the limits of automotive infrastructure in the area.

squegeeboo