Public transport

I love public transport. It is where professionals have to sit next to junkies and drunks and pretend not to mind. And people don't seem to care that they are in public. They treat it like home... yell at there children, fight with there partners, kiss, sing, talk to themselves. I have done (or stilll doing) a whole series of paintings and drawings on public transport, and although some days the pollution and intimacy gets to me, i usually can get something out of it.
Just got the bus home and had an 'experience'. I got on, paid for my ticket and turned around to sit down An old man said "your from *insert town*". I thought it was wierd but then i realized that I was wearing my old soccer shirt. The only seat left (should have been a clue :idea :) was next to him so i sat there. About two minutes after i sat down he started very quietly making ghost noises "whoooo awhaaah"... He was looking out the window the whole time and didn't say anything else. I got off two stops early!
It was very strange, although i am starting to giggle about it now!
Anyone else had "fun" on public transport? Planes, trains and buses seem to attract a 'special sort'!!

When you share your ride in with every school child in the universe you get an appreciation for the current trends in language. Word of choice at the moment is "durrr!" as in "He was like durrr! so I was so like DURRRHHH!"

Pole dancing on a tube! Fun - you should try it!

Funniest strangest tube experience I had in London was on the District Line to Wimbledon, sitting opposite a rather large old lady who kept standing up and mooning at the passengers and flashing her boobs at the guy next to her. Poor dear was obviously totally loolah, but that did not stop all the other passengers snickering. However she seemed to thrive on the attention, so we had to try and hold back our laughter as the sight of her flesh on display was really not pleasant!

once on the tube at about midnight or whenever the last one is i saw these two people doing acrobatics.

i don't mean just swinging from the poles, they were properly doing backfilps and loads of crazy stuff. It was a pretty good show and the journey went much quicker!

We don't have public transport in most parts of this country.

that was one of my favorite parts about my trip to England: my ability to get around without a car.

In germany i got on a tram (yes tram not train) there was this woman sitting to the side of us. suddenly she stuck her head out into the passagway and puked up! then she sat back again as if nothing happend! no doubt we got off and walked the rest of the way
oh, and my frind tom got stabbed on a train with a penknife by some townies.

i live in nottingham and our public transport is a curse, the curse of NCTX.
the busses are so full they are like cattle trucks and i have totally given upon them i live 2 mins from a bus stop and 25 mins from town so iwalk cos the busses ar eso bad.
but people are normally quite freindly on busses theyll talk to the tall goth man about anything, the sort of people who get out of my way like im contagious will quite happily chat to you about their life, their lumbago bunions anything.
its weird

I actually got flashed (bum, not brests) by a woman in the london underground once - and she was pretty darned hot too. She was getting up to get off as some station near London Bridge (I think I was on the way to the War Museam?), and she stood up, bent over from the waist (legs strait) to pick up her bags in such a way that her rear was almost in my face, at which point I realized her skirt was totally see-through white gaussy type material and she had on black garters and a thong underneath, and was looking real good. She looked over her shoulder at me as she stood up and walked off the subway. I was in shock - like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car.
About 5 seconds later, the rastifarian guy next to me says, "did you see thaat, maan?". All I could say was, "whoa..."

I love the Tokyo train system. Everyone is either sleeping or reading 'adult' comic books (including the women).
I have the pictures to prove it.

The Berlin U/S-bahns are a really interesting mix of folks too...

I often like to pull my digital camera out on subways and try to descretely take candid shots.
Perhaps Icarus and I should put our work together to make some sort of coffee table book...

My favorite "show" I've seen was on the Paris metro. At some point during the ride, a puppet show complete with music appeared at the other end of the car. Made me laugh and laugh. I had thought it was just people being cute while asking for money, but the got off a few stops before I did, and never had a tray out at all. In the states, I'm pretty sure they would have been begging.

I grew up riding the New York City Subways and still find them 'home'... Yeah, there's some crazys on them, but that's half the fun. Except when they have guns. But they rarely take them out.

One day I had a horrible day and I went to the front car of the 6 train and rode it from start to finish, looking out the front window at the tunnels. It was awesome.

I love mass transit too... I like my car, but I love my subways.

Depends which way your bus is going mind you. Some baaaad bus experiences. Saw a girl pull a kichen knife out right next to us on the back of a bus and threaten an old man for giving out about her smoking.

I have good memories on the late night buses at 4am.
Having big mad conversations with strangers. Singing on the back of the bus. Meeting people who know people you know. Having random strangers from the bus back in your house playing your guitar and singing with you in the sauna drinking sherry....yea man public trasport's rockin.

More happy memories than bad

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i wanna see those pictures

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hmmm.... I don't have a place on the web I can post it just now. I could email one if you like.

i miss public trasportation

i had this funny experience one evening on the tube. my friend and i had been running around town, just having some fun for the evening, exploring london, all that. well it was later in the evening, but not incredibly late, and we were the only people in the car on the tube except for one man. she and i were just chatting, laughing a bit about something. we look over and notice him sitting in the far corner of the car, facing the wall (the seat wasn't facing that way, he had actually turned around to face the wall). and we think we heard him muttering to himself, but we're not sure. but he refused to face any direction. just sat there, staring at the blank wall of the tube car.

oh i forgot. once while riding the tube, i also got proposed to by some strange Italian guy i had never met before.

Public transport in Cornwall is the most inaccessible things I have ever had the misfortune to come accross!!

I work just over 10 miles from where I live, its a standard 9 - 5 job (usually). Its normally about a 20 minute drive each way.

But,

If I were to get a bus, I would have to leave the house at 5:45am to get to the bus station to catch the bus to go 3 miles beyond where I need to, to be there in time to catch a bus from there BACK to where I work!!

Either that or be 35 minutes late every day!

Then to get home again......

I have a choice of leaving at 2:30pm or 10:30pm (bearing in mind that I finish work at 5pm)

Or I could walk!!!

And the government has the cheek to punish drivers in this country to persuade us to use more public transport!!!!!



*end rant*

Once i was on a bus with a bus driver with serious road rage, he was swear obscenely the whole journey (40min) and tried to race a lorry!
Also, (on the same bus route) the bus i was on has crashed into a traffic light!

Needless to say i try not to go using that route now.

Yeah there are all kinds of characters on the subway in New York. The most memorable is the hispanic guy who built this horse out of foam rubber. It runs from the floor to his waist and his legs are inside - so it looks like he's riding a foam rubber horse. He tours the subways, playing salsa music and dancing around, asking for change. It's pretty creative.

Last summer,i was on my way to a festival,got on a bus in a sleepy country village.This woman starts to tell the whole bus about her terrible life,how she got mugged,made homeless,got mugged again...it was pretty horrific,all the things that had happened,but what was worse was her victim,nothing good ever happens to me attitude.She was clearly slightly loopy and i was trying to chant quietly under my breath to drown out her depressing tirade,when a little old man stood up and passed her a postcard .On it was written"i can think positive".He was such a sweet,twinkly,smiley old guy,he was so the opposite of her.I resolved there and then to try and not dwell on my own negativity.....

Thats a beautiful story!