I lived in Europe for a number of years. At least then, transit was great and I used it extensively. In San Francisco at least, for policy reasons, transit is pretty grim.
I witnessed a guy getting beat up for stopping a tourist scam. Interestingly, after they grabbed his shoes and he chased them HE was arrested.
I saw an old women be spit on (huge spit) while sitting in the handicap seat.
What's very unique in San Francisco, passengers know that if they get involved and a claim of excessive force, racial etc factors come in - they may have a career ending consequences or liability. AS a result, again, no one will help you. It's really amazing watching TOTALLY brazen theft from stores, from cars, folks getting harassed while on transit. No one will step in. I wouldn't be surprised if someone was dying that folks might step over them or around them, it's that socialized.
This may have changed in the EU, but when I was there it just wasn't comparable at all. The US model for transit has soured me a bit on transit. At some point you need to make it so it serves the 95% that want a safe ride, perhaps doing on call pickup transits for those struggling with mental health / drug and other issues who still need to get places?
Bottom line though - I'd encourage govt to create safe options people WANT to use vs focusing on banning things (out here major efforts to get uber banned so taxi cartels could take over again with their "broken" credit card meters, unreliable pickups, failures to service areas etc).
I witnessed a guy getting beat up for stopping a tourist scam. Interestingly, after they grabbed his shoes and he chased them HE was arrested.
I saw an old women be spit on (huge spit) while sitting in the handicap seat.
What's very unique in San Francisco, passengers know that if they get involved and a claim of excessive force, racial etc factors come in - they may have a career ending consequences or liability. AS a result, again, no one will help you. It's really amazing watching TOTALLY brazen theft from stores, from cars, folks getting harassed while on transit. No one will step in. I wouldn't be surprised if someone was dying that folks might step over them or around them, it's that socialized.
This may have changed in the EU, but when I was there it just wasn't comparable at all. The US model for transit has soured me a bit on transit. At some point you need to make it so it serves the 95% that want a safe ride, perhaps doing on call pickup transits for those struggling with mental health / drug and other issues who still need to get places?
Bottom line though - I'd encourage govt to create safe options people WANT to use vs focusing on banning things (out here major efforts to get uber banned so taxi cartels could take over again with their "broken" credit card meters, unreliable pickups, failures to service areas etc).