Public transport

What do people here think about public transport?

Public transport means potentially dealing with unfamiliar people, and this can be challenging (and quite funny). I've just posted a very short video on my Autistic Not Alien YouTube channel about a weird train trip I had. [edited by moderator]

(Hoping that the moderators don't class this as spam, as I've just seen that someone has posted a link to a Neurocuriosity YouTube video on another thread.)

  • The money was spent on the Iraq War. 

    Long, and short, of it. 

  • When we see the train networks in other parts of Europe alone, let alone further afield, one really does wonder why the U.K. trains are so bad, long after privatisation, as even the trains in Eastern Europe are better than the U.K. - the fact that there is no first class rail services and very few direct trains across the North of England and North Wales is a total disgrace 

  • Same is true in the South. Unions held the Government to ransom. They're now trying to do the same, here, in Northern Ireland.

  • Living in Manchester and having family in Ireland, flying is out of the question for obvious reasons, but trains on SailRail is a nightmare - the U.K. train network, in comparison to Irish trains, is a total disgrace with the constant rail strikes and frankly, following the disaster of HS2, an external body such as from the CCP, Japan or Taiwan, needs to come in and take complete and direct control of it with no interference being permitted (laws would need to be passed in Parliament to facilitate this), all of the existing rail bodies would have to be abolished and rail strikes simply not allowed, nor would rail trade unions, who have been holding the U.K. railways back for decades - this way, fares would come down, standards of service would improve, rail projects would be completed for half the costs and in half the time with far fewer objections being permitted in law - it would also put an end to the constant shelving of high speed rail tunnels under the Irish Sea between Holyhead and Dublin (as well as the others in Scotland and in South Wales to Co Wexford) - as it stands, getting a train from Manchester Piccadilly (platform 14) via Chester, Crewe or Lladnuo to Holyhead is a nightmare with no direct trains, not even from Manchester Victoria, not even first class or private compartments - ferry companies have a part to play in this too as there is very few passenger only ferries operating from Liverpool old port (not Birkenhead - even though they have cruise ships coming in all the time) to Dublin and no water taxis operating from Salford Quays to Liverpool - then at Dublin, ships can’t go all the way along the River Liffey as far as Capel St Bridge despite having cruise ships in the expanded port and no LUAS trams into the city 

  • I feel sick as soon as the car door opens. This is the smell of petrol and everything mixed plus smell of the seat and antifreeze liquid for the windscreen and they often have some kind of perfume in the car. I literally feel sick I can’t bear it. It happens very rarely that I travel with a car. There are also smells in bus especially if it’s crowded and it’s hot and no AC. But how I deal with public transport traveling - I always take a seat that has no opposite seat (like for four persons together) - I avoid it. To not see anyone’s face in front of me. I also look to take a seat next to the window so I can watch the world outside instead of watching others in the vehicle. I use earplugs to not hear all the noise around plus noise of the engine and trembling glass or other parts inside. If it’s a longer trip, book or mobile games such as sudoku or Tetris are also helpful. 

  • I had to take the train for a work trip. I'm very grateful not to have a regular commute. Work is exhausting enough, especially as a late-diagnosed autist. 

  • Thank you so much. I was wondering whether I should quit making them (too much time editing; pitiful viewing figures; etc.) but comments like yours keep me going.

  • I actually don't mind a conversation if it's two-way, brief, and about subjects I am interested in. :)

  • Easier said than done , but I always use Ubers it helps me so much as i'm only having to deal with one person rather than lots of them also I find it so much more comfy and convinient when needing to get somewhere that would normally take me ages to plan out and put things into consideration which drains me so much.

  • I enjoyed your video. 

  • Or, guarantee,  whoever you sit next to, or sits next to you, will end up talking to you. 

    Or, sit and listen to the GOLD that is every day conversation of people around you.

    I think it depends what mode of transport and where in the world you are and what time of the day / week, how tired you are etc

  • I thought being armed with a book of poetry would be enough to deter all other humans, but no. 

  • Find one's own private interior space and wear headphones. sunglasses if need be. public transit veterans know to give and expect space and use library voices and not to use voice functions of phones - and to not eat!