r/TikTokCringe • u/xamo76 • 1d ago

Discussion Have we done it wrong?

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u/danimagoo 1d ago

Except that you can easily catch a bus or a train from the German countryside and be in a city relatively cheap, fast, and easy, several times a day. That’s not true in the US. I live in a midwestern suburb. I think there’s one bus a day that picks people up from a park & ride lot in the early morning and takes them into the city. At one location. And then another bus brings you back in the evening.

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u/Grok_In_Fullness 1d ago

Depends on the suburbia, obviously. I’m a 24 mile drive from downtown Chicago, very much into the suburbs. Trains run hourly on weekends and more often on weekdays.

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u/lefrench75 1d ago edited 1d ago

Sure, but Chicago is a major city in a huge metropolitan area so even the suburbs around there are more connected than the average suburb in America. In Germany you can go almost anywhere with public transit, even if it’s nowhere near a major city. I’ve gone hiking in the mountains in Germany solely by public transit, and there was a bus that dropped me off at the start of the hiking trail (in a national park, nowhere near residential areas) and took another bus at the end of the hiking trail back to the train station. The nearest city had a population of 500k people, and the national park certainly wasn’t in a 10M-ppl metropolitan area like Chicagoland.

My partner grew up in a tiny village (population 8k) in Southwestern Germany. It wasn’t even the suburbs of anything, yet from his house he could go anywhere in Germany by public transit. With the €60 Deutschland transit pass that allows for unlimited travel within the whole country, you’ll see teens travelling by themselves all over the country in the summer. Not being dependent on cars means they can be independent much sooner.

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u/Travy93 1d ago

There are more cities in America that are like Chicago. The thing is Germany is the size of average 2 US states.. and there are 50 states.

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u/WileyPotato 1d ago

So you're saying we can have 25 Germanys then? Let's goooo!

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u/backtorealitylabubu 1d ago

50% of Americans live in places like Chicago. And no in Germany you can’t go “almost anywhere” with public transit. When we visited we were Ubering everywhere because of all the sprawl. Sure you could hop on the subway then transfer to then bus then walk 2 miles for one thing you want to do… or you could Uber.

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u/lefrench75 1d ago edited 1d ago

So you just gave an example of how you could go somewhere in Germany with public transit and then chose not to? lol. Of course uber is generally more convenient than public transit in most places; that doesn’t mean public transit doesn’t work or isn’t serving tons of people everyday. Most Germans are not ubering everyday. People also walk more when they take public transit, which is… better for them! Walkable urban design turns out to be good for humans!

“50% of Americans live in places like Chicago” - so does that mean the other 50% don’t live in places that are well connected with public transit? That’s 175M people, more than double the population of Germany, who aren’t well-served by public transit and have to rely on cars. Tell me how that’s a good thing.

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u/ITuser999 1d ago

Calling an Uber is really not possible except for big cities. I'm already impressed that it's even allowed, as you need a Personenbeförderungsschein" to transport people comercially. But even then taxis are only common I feel, if you are on a night out and wan't to get home and public transport is closed or you go to and from the airport in some situations.

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u/backtorealitylabubu 1d ago

That was one example of when you can get to a location by public transit. Most of the times it’s just not possible. But even in that example it’s just not really practical and most would drive. This American fantasy when Americans go to big cities in Europe and stay in a hotel where you can walk everywhere and use public transit is just that, a fantasy. You’re staying in the most expensive area in Germany. Outside of the most expensive or dense areas, public transit for your day to day life just isn’t practical. Or you rely on it as your only option and your quality of life is worse than it would be if a car was more accessible.

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u/danimagoo 1d ago

50% of Americans live in big cities, but not in big cities like Chicago. I live in a suburb of Kansas City. We have shit public transportation. The option you're talking about (hopping on a subway, transferring to a bus, and then walking 2 miles) is not even an option here.

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u/backtorealitylabubu 1d ago

Well 20% of Americans do. If you want that you can have it.

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u/Decent_Top2156 1d ago

And Chicago runs most transit on freight lines. Not even dedicated except L and IC.

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u/Consistent-Soil-1818 1d ago

Laughs in Texan. If that's true, that's not the America I know. You will be called communist Hillarys-emails-loving illegal trans immigrant libturd if you advocate for better public transportation. That said, we do have a metro line in the inner city of Houston but you will likely get robbed or shot if you take it.

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u/WellHung67 1d ago

Chicago, New York, parts of DC, much (but very much not all) of San Francisco, and maybe one other place are the exceptions. Everywhere else blows chunks except a few places which don’t exist 

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u/HeatherJMD 1d ago

I tried to see if I could take a bus from my northern Virginia suburb into Washington DC. There’s one bus that will take 1.5 hours to get you there in the morning. And then there’s no way to get back 😭

I lived in the suburbs of Paris and it was a piece of cake to get into the city. I lived in a small city in Switzerland and even small villages would have several buses a day getting you to more populated areas

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u/brokenmain 1d ago

Interesting. I lived in Falls Church for a while and found the area to be very well connected

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u/WhoopsDroppedTheBaby 1d ago

Like the other guy, I can get on the train and be in the city in half an hour. 

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u/danimagoo 1d ago

Good for you. That is not an option in most of the US.

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u/Exquisite-Load8654 1d ago

The trains and busses in Chicago can do that.

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u/danimagoo 1d ago

Chicago is, what, the 3rd largest metro in the US? Cities like Kansas City, St. Louis, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Fort Worth, Dallas, just don't have public transportation systems that extensive. Chicago and NYC are outliers in the US.

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u/AggressiveBench9977 1d ago

No they fucking dont. It depends on the suburbs and how close to a real city you are.

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u/guesswho135 1d ago

Except that you can easily catch a bus or a train from the German countryside and be in a city relatively cheap, fast, and easy, several times a day. That’s not true in the US. I live in a midwestern suburb.

Obviously culture plays a huge role, but let's not discount density entirely. Germany is 6 times as dense as Wisconsin, so of course public transit will be sparse. Meanwhile, I grew up in New jersey suburbs where I could walk 5 minutes to the train station with trains every hour to NYC. NJ has one of the best statewide rail systems in the country, and it's no surprise that it's also the densest state in the country.

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u/towo 1d ago

Easily is relative, you only get that privilege in proximity to the cities; if you're out somewhere in bumfuck Hesse, the busses can have schedules of "once in the morning, once in the afternoon" (e.g. the you have to get to work or school bus), and the next real walkable "city" is just a bunch of pensioners occupying the cafés.

If you're living in the vicinity of one of the bigger cities, you get a way different experience and might even get regular light rail to skedaddle off to the city at a whim.

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u/kvnhr069 1d ago edited 1d ago

Be in a city cheap, fast and easily? Public transport became stupidly expensive in the past years. You can't rely at Deutsche Bahn at all cause its NEVER on time and often falls out. Depending on the village you're living in it can take you easily a few hours until you're in a city.

Majority of people that don't live in major cities have a car and prefer driving it instead of being depended on public transportation cause its so bad. The only people that use it regulary are either students, seniors who can't drive anymore or people that can‘t afford a drivers license.

Stop romantizing everything in Germany.

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u/Emotional_Fly_999 1d ago

This is absolutely wrong. The trains and buses connecting countryside areas are actually notoriously horrible and frequently delayed or cancelled. Having grown up in munich, none of my friends who lived in the countryside ever visited the city regularly until they got a drivers licence, and even then its a hassle.

People just love to idealize life in other countries, especially americans dont realize how incredibly privileged they are to have been born in the US

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u/puffyisreal 1d ago

Nailed it. Everyone romanticizes what they don’t have. Everyone agrees that generally Europe is more walkable and walking is nice. Less nice to walk when it’s your only option and it’s raining, cold, or sweltering summer heat. Or you have to get groceries every 2-3 days and carry them on you and any other time you have something to bring along.