Trains are more dependable, not subject to auto traffic, actually do better as traffic increases (higher demand for travel=congested roads and increased demand for trains). don’t have so many stops along the way. Buses also have a lower class, can’t-afford-a-car status or a old person can’t drive anymore status.
I love buses. Actually, I love anything that doesn’t require me to steer. However, they do tend to get stuck in traffic, which trains do not, and this can make a long commute more trouble than it’s worth.
Ah yes, the Greyhound to Santa Cruz. God I hated that. Four hour trip for an hour’s drive.
San Francisco has a pretty good bus system, at least on the routes I frequent.
I agree with you 100%, I too hate cars and would love to be carfree. Unfortunately I live in one of the worst cities when it comes to mass transit. Until recently I had been able to take a bus to and from work and it was great. Fortunately it was a good route, but on weekends and off hours I would not take it because it is infrequent and unreliable.
If I must be stuck in traffic, I would rather be on a bus, that way I can relax, read or doze off. If I am driving I get annoyed and stressed out. IMO our car dominated society sucks. I don’t want to ban all cars, I just want viable options like reliable and convenient routes, bike paths and decent sidewalks and places in walking distance.
I hate driving too, but I hate waiting around for a bus even more. They’re rarely on schedule, and said schedule is rarely convenient.
And higher demand for trains results in more frequent train service. So the more people use it, the faster it becomes.
I also find trains to be more comfortable. Even when standing up, you don’t get jerked around quite as much.
Germany is the Mecca of public transportation. I go to the University here in Germany as an exchange student, and the public transportation here couldn’t be better. Sure, the busses do smell like BO a lot of times, but it isn’t bad. I travel from my house to my university about three times a week, which is about 120 km away from my house, so that’s a long haul. I take a Strassenbahn from my house to the train station which comes every 10 minutes, then i change to a train that takes an hour and a half, then I get on a bus to go to the university. In the university town, it takes only 6 minutes for the bus to come, and in germany, even the busses run on time. I mean REALLY on time. EG, if you have one minute to get to the bus stop, you’d better run. And get this, because I am a University student, the entire trip is free. That’s right, in Germany students have free use of public transportation to get to school, and in the city that their school is located. But i love busses here. Most of the ones in Europe are quite nice, so its a nice ride normally, and often air-conditioned.
As a person who’s been using the transit system for the last 8 years in 2 different cities… well I can agree. I hate the buses, I’d rather catch the train. Of course I’d rather avoid both at peak hours but if I can’t I live with it.
As people pointed out the buses are rarely on time (I leave for the bus stop to be there 5 minutes before the bus is supposed to arrive. If I don’t it’s early, if I do it’s on time or late) I have to plan carefully how I schedule things… lately I go to doctors appointments on Weds mornings and to a pregnancy group on those evenings… it’s easier for me to go to the mall after my doctor’s and hang out there before I leave for group. Otherwise I go home for an hour then have to fight my way through peak hours to get back almost all the way to where I was in the first place.
I often get crushed in among people, told to squeeze in so more people can get on (I can’t squeeze! That’s not a fat belly that’s a baby belly!) I never get a seat and wouldn’t want to anyway otherwise I have to fight through people to get to the door to get off. I have to fight to get off the train at the door because the students crush in so they absolutely must get on and get home right away while not letting anyone the space to get off.
Buses are only better at peak hours because they come more often. They may be a bit crowded but they are more convenient for timing. Trains run every 15 minutes every day from start-up to shut-down, peak hours every 5 minutes. Trains it’s quicker to get from one end of the city to the other too. Here, the only times they have to deal with traffic lights is the downtown core and it’s set up for them to run easily without traffic interference itself.
I really could go on and on about it… I betcha I’ll have a whole ton of complaints when baby is born (I can just imagine taking a stroller on the trains and buses at peak…)
That is really weird. The bus system in Chicago is generally excellent. Of course, it’s pretty impossible to tell when the next bus is coming, but since they run quite frequently, it’s usually not a big deal. IME, many perfectly sane, normal people ride the bus here. In conjunction with the el, it’s about eighteen zillion times easier to get around using public transit than driving.
I just want to reiterate that of course trains are superior to busses. I don’t think anyone would deny this. But the interesting discussion here is what you like/dislike about bus travel.
I guess it really depends where you live. A crappy mass transit system would indeed make bus travel pretty miserable. Luckily, I happen to live in a city where the bus system is quite well managed. The busses are typically quite accurate with regards to their schedule. If they arrive early, the bus will wait. If they’re late - well - its no big deal as they come often enough. My tuition includes an unlimited bus pass which is incredibly useful. Also, they’re constantly upgrading the fleets. Every year it seems we have new busses on the routes.
Having ridden both in different cities, I think it has more to do with how well the transit system as a whole is run rather than the individual type of transport. Both the subways and buses in Boston could be pretty unpleasant, but in Tokyo they’re both wonderful (unless you happen to be riding at peak rush hour).
One problem I encountered with the buses in Boston, though, was their inability to deal with anything but exact change. Maybe this has since improved, but always having to make sure I had exactly $.85 on me was a pain in the butt. At least the subway stations had people selling tokens and giving change.
Given a choice, though, I’d probably go with the subway. It’s faster, not affected by traffic, and usually cheaper. It’s also a lot easier to stand inside a train than in a bus, and there are more seats available.
When I lived there, I found that a good portion of the time it was quicker to walk somewhere than to use the bus. The only times I would use the bus were when I had something to carry or it was a rather long distance.
On another note, one of the reasons I don’t care too much for the bus system is because they tend to be dirty. I have also found out that I tend to be a freak magnet when on a bus.
I love buses.
When I lived in London, I had three options to get to the city centre: take the bus to the Victoria line, take the bus to the Central line, or take the bus to the centre of the city. I always opted for the bus the whole way. It was cheaper, less crowded, usually quicker, and a far nicer ride. I got to know the layout of the city, I didn’t have to walk miles underground to get from train to surface and vice versa, I got to see the sun, I got personal space - it was fantastic ! love the bus.
In Toronto the buses are inferior to streetcars, and since I live in streetcar country I don’t bus much. But they still have the benefits - less walking underground, more to see, less crowded, and if there’s a delay you can just get out and walk.
I also love the bus over long distances. It’s so nice to see the world pass by. I don’t know why I prefer them to trains, but I do. They’re poetic. I always expect Bob Dylan to sit down beside me.
I like the Montreal bus and Metro system. It takes me all over the city, and the routes are well-planned both in terms of covering the city well and being timed properly for important transfers. I haven’t had too much trouble with weirdos, maybe because my travels are usually during the day and in the less creepy areas of town.
But then I took the commuter train to visit a friend on the North Shore. Wow. Quiet, smooth, fast… The train isn’t an option for me, though, because it’s not really a train network we have here, just three or four lines that take you into the downtown core. But from there I’d have to take the Metro anyway. Too bad, because I really liked that train ride. I’ll call my buddy again and see if I can go visit soon. 
As a Chicago suburbanite, I take trains because their schedule is less confusing than the buses. There are so many bus lines, that if I can take the train instead, I will because it’s simpler. It’s also more hassle to leave the train platforms and find the bus stop than it is to transfer to another train on a shared platform.
If I had to regularly go somewhere, I’d take the time to research the routes and methods of transport, using the CTA’s website, and then would know for certain what route is the best. As it stands, the only regular travel downtown that I do is getting to and from work, and for that I take a Metra (aka full-sized train, not an elevated/subway train, for the non-Chicagoans), then a shuttle bus provided by my workplace.
Since I’m incredibly lazy and a little woozy in the morning, I usually take the bus to the train station (it’s about 4 blocks or so but, really, believe me, I need the time to wake up a little more before hitting the caffeine). I’m a big fan of the bus, especially now that in Chicago the majority of busses I take have the electronic display at the front showing the date, time, and route (I think), and the stops are announced clearly and well in advance. It’s also a fun way to see neighborhoods I would normally just pass over or under when on the El.
The city I grew up in had a wonderful bus system. I loved to take them. They were clean and cheap to use. The drivers were nice too. The routes were amazing. You could get anywhere in the city and many of the surrounding towns for $1.25 or less. They ran constantly too.
Now, I live in Western Massachusetts and the bus service sucks. I’ve lived here over 3 years and I don’t think I’ve seen more than 10 busses. I wouldn’t even know where or when to pick one up because the bus stops aren’t clearly marked. I miss the busses in my home town. Instead of spending over $500 a month for my car and insurance, I could spend less than $500 a year for a bus pass. 
I hate taking the Minneapolis busses because they stop at EVERY SINGLE BLOCK. It takes me twice as long to get to work that way.
I loved the subway when I lived in Boston because it enabled me to get almost anywhere I wanted to go in the Boston metro area, and quickly. I didn’t own a car when I was there, and didn’t need one (well, missed it when I went grocery shopping). Everything was within walking distance because it was a short walk to the subway station.
I loved the Cambus bus system at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, which was free, but that’s a small town, and buses came every 10 minutes, and the stops were spaced reasonably far apart.
The schedule is more confusing than the train schedule. Also since the train stops automatically, you don’t have to signal for it to stop. Trains are usually paid for through tickets, usually ahead of time. You don’t have to interact with the driver. And unlike busses, The whole thing is not delayed at all if you don’t have your ticket or fare ready. On buses paying for the ride is an interaction with the driver. Even if there is a fare box, fare must be dealt with before the trip will continue.
I have had bad bus experiences in a town of about 40,000 people. One driver routinely swore at passengers. He yelled racist insults to any minority person–behavior that was not normal or tolerated in any other situation that I say in that community. Another driver would scream at anyone that was a bit slow in boarding, including those using the chair lift. She once told a wheelchair boud person that she was useless and should better the world by killing herself. I reported such incidents whenever I observed them. This lead to the screamer to start not picking me up at times, or refusing to stop others. The racist took delight in jerking the bus so that I would fall while trying to get to my seat.
Eventually the screamer was forced into early retirement after others reported her behavior too. The racist dragged a veteran to death before he was fired. Since there were the numerous complaints sitting there, he was actually fired and not retired early.
Bus drivers have a large opportunity to humiliate passengers. Some take that opportunity and run with it.
I live in Santa Cruz also, which has the most insanely amazing jewel of a bus system. It’s a big-city trasit system for a small town. I love it.
I really really really like busses. I’m a bit of a public transportation freak in general, but rails don’t capture my heart like city busses. I like the way they kind of pulse through the city. It’s kind of reassuring. Whereas subways are just kind of cold and mysterious and removed. I like all the things you see on busses. I love looking out the windows. I like the way that busses move. I like all the human interaction. I also grew up riding the busses, and in high school knowing the bus system meant freedom the same way that cars mean freedom to other people. Riding the bus still makes me feel ultra-capable.
I’m not a big fan of busses for long journeys though.
In my experience, a lot of people’s objections to busses are class-based. They didn’t grow up using the bus and they don’t see why they should have to do it now. They especially don’t like the prospect of being around the kind of people that do take the bus. This happens a lot to new college students. They whine and whine and whine until the realize that using the bus not only isn’t so bad, but is often superior to using their cars.