Transit Safety
Posted by Fred Jandt
Editor, Mass Transit
I was in Washington, D.C., earlier this week and while visiting my parents last weekend they pleaded with me to take a taxi from the airport, or as my father intoned, “Always take a taxi.”
Why? Well I was coming into D.C. late on Monday night and my parents didn’t think that a train ride was safe at night from the airport to my hotel. Let me point something out here. This wisdom wasn’t imparted on me from the voice of experience — far from it in fact. Neither of my parents has ever been to Washington, D.C., and they probably have never rode on a subway, let alone a light rail line.
Growing up outside of a small town in Western Wisconsin the closest thing my parents had to any sort of public transit was what they watched on TV. So for them to give me advice on transit safety seemed absurd in the least.
But the impression is still there. It’s kind of like the impression of buses being dirty, black, cloud-belching monstrosities. Transit isn’t safe after dark. Train stations are the domain of vagrants and ne’er-do-wells and if you are at a bus stop after dark you are either causing trouble or looking for it.
Of course, like the image of a bus belching black smoke, the truth when it comes to transit safety is often the opposite of what the public image is. As I walked up to the Metro station near my hotel, there were two Metro Transit Police officers standing there in case of trouble. And as I stood on the platform waiting for my train back to the airport, I saw several Metro staffers walking the platform.
And let’s talk about that station and platform a bit. Both were better lit than a lot of the streets above. If I were in trouble, I would probably head for a train station instead of running from it.
Again, transit has to do what so many other companies and organizations do not. They not only have to provide great service at a reasonable cost, but they must also overcome decades of misinformation and ingrained imagery to prove that they aren’t what people think they are.
Thanks for reading the MT Position,
Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com
January 11th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Fred -
Thanks for the kind words about safe public transit in DC. We are proud of the Metrorail, Metrobus and DC Circulator services. We’ve come a long way from dirty buses and are proud of the clean burning ultra low sulfer diesels we’re using in the city. Please, visit us again soon!
Anne Carey
Project Manager
DC Circulator
January 11th, 2008 at 10:55 am
The first time I visited New York City I was told similar advice - “whatever you do, don’t ride the subway. You’ll be killed!” Being 20, a ride on the subway was the first thing I did when I got to town. Here in Chicago, I feel safer riding the El, as most cab drivers seem to disregard traffic lights, turn signals and other signs.
Growing up in northeast Ohio, the bus was only for poor people. In fact I still get that feedback when I ride a bus while visiting my hometown. I was actually told by a passenger that I was stealing from him by riding the bus. It was implied that bus riding was only supposed to done if you were below a certain income level, like food stamps or a welfare service. Unfortunately that attitude runs deep throughout this particular agency and I suspect many others. Information about service changes is posted on board buses, but rarely on their website. I learned that the hard way when I came home for my college homecoming this past fall. Major route change, but nothing on the website.
I had a similar treatment this fall when I was in Charleston West Virginia and took the local bus from our hotel to downtown Charleston. Schedules and route information were next to impossible to find. On board I felt like an outsider, that I was not supposed to be using “their” bus. I felt an unspoken uneasiness aboard almost every bus I rode there.
Overcoming this ingrained attitude is a challenge we must overcome if we are ever to succeed as an industry, let alone a country. And the sooner we do it, the better off we will be.
January 11th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
I was discussing the design of a new courthouse with the project manager for the state agency designated to build it. He talked about how the Number One thing people who were going to work in the building talked about: Parking. “Where is the indoor parking? (there isn’t any, except for the judges - security reasons). Well, where do we park? There? Across the street? But, but, it’ll be raining sometimes!!”
I said, why don’t they take the bus or the trolley instead. It was gently explained to me that “Lawyers and legal people don’t take busses.”
Maybe they should.
The image of transit has to be improved. It’s a good way to travel, but it has a lousy image to the public.
January 11th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Mark Schwinn-
I hope that experience wasn’t in Cleveland. As the GCRTA’s web site manager (and a lifelong transit user, though not a lifelong Clevelander) I’ve made it a point to increase and enhance the amount of information we provide to our riders. And I would sincerely hope that noone would ever feel unwelcome on our system.
That being said, I agree that the hills we have to climb to overcome public misconceptions are steep. Of course, any time I need reassurance about the “value” of transit, I just look at my retirement account and think how much of that would have otherwise gone toward a personal vehicle’s upkeep…
January 11th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
I agree that the public perception of bus transit is part of our challenge to encourage people to try the bus. I visited Chicago about a year ago and rode rail or walked whereever I needed to go. I almost took the bus from my downtown hotel but was persuaded by the bellman to walk a few blocks to rail. I might not have been so influenced if I had the same confidence in my knowledge of the bus system as I had for the rail. I also had that sense of being an outsider and not really welcome when I waited at a bus stop. Rail is expensive but it isn’t hard to see why transit users seem to prefer it.
January 12th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
I agree, the image of public transportation needs to be improved. Around here (SLC) the light rail has really taken off and has had more ridership than the local transit company ever thought. Buses however are still regarded as being “for the poor” as was stated in an earlier post. They have started to implement a much better commuter bus system with MCI’s that has helped to clean up the bus image a bit with the “business professionals” and I commend them on that, but there’s still a long way to go.
January 14th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Mike Cermak-
No it wasn’t GCRTA but a much smaller and newer agency in a neighboring county to the southeast.
Your web site is great, by the way. I often use it to double check schedules and routings when I come to Cleveland. With all the construction and street closings going on downtown this past year, the timely info on reroutes was greatly appreciated! Between the web site and the updated signs posted at bus stops, what could have been a very difficult experience became relatively easy. Or as easy as can be during construction.
January 14th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
The Washington DC subway is excellent, comfortable, quiet; nice trains, affordable, with wonderful stations. The patrons are well mannered - it is a far cry from riding the New York subway, which is noisy, decrepit, and the patrons offensive. My grown son and I were visiting DC in 2003 and rather than renting a car (which only crazy people would use to see the sites in the Capitol), we took the subway. He’s from Manhattan. The first time we entered the Dupont Circle station (what an escalator!) he called his wife on his cell. “Guess what honey, I’m in a subway that’s comfortable, quiet, and the people are so nice.” He couldn’t get over it. We travelled all over the city with no worries. In fact, a dishevelled individual who had obviously been drinking got on the train at one of the above ground stations and he was soon encouraged to get off by the other passengers, which ranged from college kids to well heeled businessmen and women. Finally, we had to head for NYC, so we stupidly rented a car and spent the next 2 hours trying to get out of DC on a Friday night in November. Silly us, we should have taken the Metroliner, but that is another story. Public transit is vastly underated in North America. Take a good look at the TV reality show Amazing Race - see how nice the trains and buses are in Japan, Taiwan, and even China? What’s the matter with us anyway?
January 15th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
I am a director on the county transportation authority, commuter rail board and intercity rail board. I have used public transportation in New York, Washington DC, Chiago, Portland, Seattle, and Vancover BC. I have found all safe clean and the only way to get around in a strange city. True New York and Chiago are cramped being old systems but anything is better than trying to drive in a major metro area.
We do have to change what people think of the poor old bus.