love letter for public transportation

welcome to introspection ft. harsehaj! ⭐️ i’m harsehaj, an 18 y/o always up to something in social good x tech.

this publication is a place for me to reflect on productivity, health and tech, and drop unique opportunities in the space right to your inbox daily. if you’re new here, sign up to tune in! 💌 

btw, feel free to reply with topic ideas you want me to write about for future posts.

onto today’s topic: love letter for public transportation 🚌 

no joke, i never used public transportation until i hit grade 11. as soon as i first stepped onto the go train for an event in toronto, i thought to myself, “damn, this is pretty good.”

now, i use public transportation every single day. well, i also don’t really have any other option .. no car and uber is expensive. i’m a public transportation guru at this point, and my familiarity with these similar systems has grown into an appreciation for well-designed public transportation infrastructure.

buses, trains and subways are so much more energy efficient and reduce traffic significantly. after all, a bus takes up as much space as 2-3 cars, but can carry 50-60 cars worth of people. 🚗 seems like a no brainer to completely shift to effectively using space. when i visited dallas, i was honestly shocked at the amount of unnecessary road space. the city was truly designed for driving and nothing else. those roads were the biggest i’ve ever seen, with barely any cars on them. it felt wasteful.

oh, comfort is really important to you? even those fancy trains with beds and everything carry more people proportionately.

still, i get it. public transportation can be really slow, especially when it’s designed poorly. unfortunately poor design, efficiency-wise, is what happens when corporations take over government and people power. 🏭️ 

i personally don’t mind a longer commute (i do have a limit though). it’s a nice time for reflection as i listen to music, and do work on my phone. i’ve even started writing these posts during my subway trip lately.

switzerland public transportation, alongside most european countries, is a great example of efficient public transportation design. even the richest people in the country take the train, because it’s so much quicker, comfortable, safe and reliable. 💪 i vividly remember my family and i missing our train, and a local woman saying, “oh, you missed your train? you’re in switzerland! there will be a train that takes you where you want to go in 5 minutes, don’t worry.”

toronto has decent public transportation, but nothing as reliable as a 5 minute promise, and certainly not as safe. the ttc is like gotham city these days.

san francisco’s public transportation is definitely a step down from toronto, but it’s still not as horrible as many people put it. it’s good if you’re just traveling within larger urban centers. if you want to get out of the city though … good luck. i’ve literally had to spend $120 on ubers just getting to palo alto because public transportation would have taken me 3 hours instead of a 50 minute drive.

anyways, when designed effectively, i am public transportation’s #1 biggest fan. 📣 

daily opportunity + resource drops 🔍️