Public Transportation May Not Even Be Worth It

I’ve been riding DART back and forth to one of the park and ride centers. My father does it on a regular basis, and it would save time and gas for my mother rather than having to make her drive on the opposite side of town just for one class. I remember the first day I rode it; I was so frustrated! I had to present my ticket to DART police about 5 times in one ride. I considered that overboard, especially when one incidence was back to back just because another officer entered my side of the cart. I remember looking at my schedule on the train, trying to see what time I would reach my connection. Something caught my eye; there was no common time when the train would run. Meaning that I wouldn’t be able to say that a certain train runs every 10 minutes because their trains run anywhere between 5 minutes to 20 minutes apart, and even their buses can be seen to run anywhere in between 10 minutes to 1 hour apart. But those two things didn’t even perturb me the most, those are manageable. I began getting restless realizing how the slow the train was going. DART trains travel at an average speed of 25-35 mph, says DART’s website. Then the travel time it took for me to reach destinations started to make sense. The ride reminded me of being in the school zone. But then I took a step back to really examine the problem I was having; I was used to being spoiled by the London Underground (a system that has the world’s fastest 4-rail train going 70 mph on average) and the Paris Métro. The London Underground’s and the Paris Métro’s average speed is 25-50 mph. Having the ability to go 15 more mph can make a major difference in time travel. Also, did I mention that the prices between all three of these train systems about the same, seeing that the dollar doesn’t deflate against the pound and euro anymore? Am I really getting a bargain for my money when other train systems have a more timely method? Therefore I came to the conclusion that the only way public transportation is worth it here in Dallas, is because it’s helping save the environment via carpooling.