Green Room - Week 25 - Day 8

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

We filled the gas tank a couple nights ago - it was $2.91 a gallon! That's the lowest I've seen it in a really long time.

Of course, those numbers are probably going to climb back up after the mid-term elections. For "some reason", that just seems to be the way it works! ;)

***

Since LJ hasn't fixed the bug yet, I'm going to link directly to the polls that are closing tonight (AKA - ALL OF THEM!)

There is the Redemption Tribe: http://www.livejournal.com/poll/?id=1986105
The Main Tribe: http://www.livejournal.com/poll/?id=1986106

And there is also Last Chance Idol: http://www.livejournal.com/poll/?id=1986346

That's a lot of talent, on a really narrow ledge, that needs you to order to keep on going!

Voting is *tight* in a lot of cases, so your voice here could very much help tip the balance. So - in your opinion, what's the best stuff out there this week?

Comments

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

I ride the bus to and from work.

[reckless-blues.livejournal.com]

I've heard rumors of functional public transportation in America, but I have yet to see proof of it myself. (My nearest bus stop is seven miles away and across a highway, and I don't think I've ever actually seen a bus there. This state sucks.)

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

Really agree. Once you go abroad you realize how inefficient American public transportation is. Odd.

[reckless-blues.livejournal.com]

You know what Russia has? Trains! Jobs! And poor people can go to med school if they want!

Well, the metro is kind of an adventure, the jobs barely pay anything, and the schools are full of bribers and cheaters, but it's the same everywhere else.

I ask for so little. *sulks*

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

You should have seen Russia in the 80's....but that's another post.

Yes, European public transportation is AMAZING. We have such a love affair with the car here in the states...it's a fetish, really.

[reckless-blues.livejournal.com]

Everyone's hair was even worse than it is now?

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

:)

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

I guess maybe it depends where you live? Here we've got one of most efficient (relatively speaking) systems in the country. Its infrastructure is older than the hills, and everybody bitches when they raise fares, but at least they try -- and mostly succeed -- at continually updating it.

(Kizzy, who hasn't commuted via public transportation since who knows when and acknowledges that, generally, the further ones lives from a metro area the crappier the transportation.)

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

Where are you? For the most part, public transportation is efficient in Boston and NY. :) Buses are somewhat reliable in Cali...but the train is a joke that simply is not funny. And cabs...no.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

Boston :)

Are you in CA? I've heard awful stories about the trains (or lack thereof) there. One would think that wouldn't be the case...I wonder if it's because CA's mostly had a car culture because of the sprawl as opposed to us who live cheek-and-jowl in a relatively small area?

[beeker121.livejournal.com]

I had heard something once that places with bad winter weather tend to develop better and more efficient transit options because 'screw it, I'll just walk' is off the table for so much of the year.

[redqueenofevil.livejournal.com]

California used to have a very reliable rail system, and the busses were good too. Then the automotive industry and other lobbyists stepped in in the 1950s and all of the rails were taken out. San Francisco has always fared better than other cities, and Los Angeles is trying to fortify their public transit, but all of the rail lines are privatized, and they are only really used for freight now. It is so sad.

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

The rail system is horrific and yet I cannot stop using it. ;) It's never on time and this was difficult when my kids were little but we are train people and we love riding trains...but yeah, you cannot plan around the schedule.

It's a shame. Especially when one has ridden trains in countries where you can set your watch by the arrival and departure times.

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

boston represent! :D i take public transportation to work and really appreciate it, altho i hate cramming on the t in the morning like a sardine. i've had to wait for two trains to pass before i actually fit in one. we need the guys with white gloves to shove us on the train like they do in tokyo.

and yeah, i bet one of the reasons boston and nyc have efficient (altho i might occasionally argue the point for boston) public transportation is because we're fairly small square-mile-wise.

[beeker121.livejournal.com]

My typical commute is a 20 min drive across a bridge to catch the most convenient BART train.

Today (because I'm being social after work) I walked half a mile to the Caltrain station, and took it to the link station to get on BART (different station than when I drive). I left 30 minutes earlier to arrive 7 minutes earlier.

Commuting is fun!