Public Transportation/Bike Stigma
His Highness the TibetanMonkey, the prophet of the deep jungle
you may be stigmatized twice!)
I will try to refrain from giving it my own twist so the accusations
of "trolling" can quickly be dismissed. And it's not that these
accusations are put out by evil people. Let's be honest about it, most
people don't even know about this stuff. It's only the monkeys who
notice the stigma... Oh sorry, I got carried away. ;)
(I quote verbatim)
"Public transportation stigma?"
Danilo Loor
Perhaps one of the mayor antagonist of the public transportation
system is the bad stigma it has. Many people believe that only certain
minorities and people of certain incomes use the public transportation
system.
How do you think the city should deal with this, so that this stigma
is gone and EVERYBODY, all Charlotteans, take advantage of the
expanding public transportation system?
***
David Cook
The stigma attached to mass transit in the US, especially the South,
is due to lack of education and perceived stereotypes people have
about the bus. Many people in the US view mass transit as dangerous
and dirty and only for crazy people and poor people (even though most
of the people who have those stereotypes have never even used mass
transit!). I guess people just feel safer and more secure in their car
when the opposite is true as there is a higher chance of being a
victim of crime or dying in a car than on a train or bus. Driving is
also such an impersonal way to travel. When I lived in Germany, I
loved taking the bus and train because I got to meet and talk to
interesting people from all over the world. Racism is another issue
related to why certain people don't use transit. The biggest factor is
that cities are designed for cars in the US and that's how most
people, especially in the south where raised to believe and learned
that from their parents. The key to making transit work is better
education on the subject and just taking your kids on the train/bus so
they are exposed to it. The more people who use mass transit, the
better the conditions will be on the road for those who don't.
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2364569436&topic=3106
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"The jungle," says the lion, "what jungle? All I see is this shady
tree and the savanna beyond."
(deep, deep stuff!)