Public Transit

I love the public transit we have here. I rarely drive... I tend to walk almost everywhere I go, or take a tram or bus if it's too far or I'm running behind. True, we have the slowest trams in Europe (since they share their space with cars and, more often than not, pedestrians. But it's not that bad.

In Lausanne, though, it seems to be another story. They have a strategy that, if I understand it correctly, more or less boils down to getting to the end of the line and waiting there for as long as possible before leaving. I think the drivers may have a little contest going.

Now, I was never a big fan of those "Billy leaves school heading 16° east, riding his bike at 8.2 Km/h. Sue leaves her house heading 42° west, skateboarding at 6.3 km/h. If the wind is from the SSW at 40 knots and the moon is in falling aries, who will get to Quick-e-mart first?". This one is easy (Billy will get there first since Sue will be in the hospital - chicks can't skate), but I didn't usually find them that compelling, as far as narrative goes.

I can't help but think, though, that having a bus or metro sitting at a stop for 10 minutes instead of moving only helps me if I arrive late. And, if you know me at all, you know how I feel about arriving late. Even then, shouldn't there be a point at which another one should be coming? If the route takes 20 minutes and the bus waits 10 minutes at each end, maybe we could just let him drive and put another bus on, too. They could even be smaller.

It could be worse, I guess. I tried taking a bus in Calgary and had to wait over an hour for it. Oh well.