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Comment by dukeofdoom | Hacker News Reader

I've taken public transport in Paris. Legit feared for my life one time. No thanks. Will gladly pay to take the taxi next time.

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I've spent a good deal of time on Parisian public transport and have no idea what you are talking about. This includes many trips to less desirable neighbourhoods. The worst I saw was constant pickpockets. Do you care to elaborate?

Sure, had a transfer between buses at night. Some sort of gang warfare was going down. People chasing after each other, throwing bottles and fighting. I'm going to assume was some sort street gang clashing, because thats exactly what it looked like.

I don't see how that's a problem with the transportation system.

You remind me of this tired old joke. The doctor proclaims, "The surgery was success, but unfortunately the patient is dead!"

From my perspective, I only care about getting from paint A to point B in a safe way that doesn't kill me. Avoiding ware zone bus stops in-between counts, since the bus stops are part of the transportation system.

After reading your comment I found a report on the relative safety of public transport and individual cars [1]. It concludes that in the USA there are up to 60x fewer fatalities per billion passenger miles on public transport (20x for commuter rail, 30x for urban rail, 60x for bus). It also claims that crime rates on public transport are decreasing despite increasing passenger numbers and are lower than for individual cars (crimes include road rage, car theft etc). The results of crimes to individual drivers are apparently also more costly (e.g. a stolen car rather than a stolen phone).

Obviously I've only seen one report, but it may be that the perception of cars as being safer is incorrect.

[1] - https://www.nctr.usf.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/JPT17.4_...

That's probably true that its safer to be in a bus than in a car. But I can point out two things that this study did not take into account, that does not provide a complete picture.

1) The people that die running to get the bus. Or people getting run over after exiting.

2) The increased chance of getting transmittable diseases like the Flu, or now COVID.

I think the point is that your perception and reality are maybe divergent. You're not in danger if you watch a gang fight unless you are caught in crossfire which is exceedingly rare in France due to lack of guns. It's unpleasant yes (I've been there with rubber bullets from riot cops) and will get your adrenaline pumping but it's not really dangerous.

> Some sort of gang warfare was going down. People chasing after each other, throwing bottles and fighting.

This sounds like a drunken brawl more than a gang fight.

In France for work for a week, I paid for an unlimited tourist public transport pass and had a wonderful time after work traveling into Paris from an suburb, then around in the city.

Did you take a bus at night?

Some mix of buses trains and subway

I did and it was prefectly ok. I think you still got unlucky to be at place where young men fought. But it is not something that happens every time one uses public transport.

Your anecdote is weird.

I've been paying my Navigo pass and equivalent for ~20 years and rode thousands of times in the metro, bus, tram, Noctilien, Citadin and RER, and I have never encountered such situation. I've lived intramuros (mostly on line 13) and in the suburbs (RER B) which are both renowned as being the worst in Ile de France, I've commuted both as a student and as a worker in almost all directions (Saint Denis, Massy, 13ieme, 18ieme, 20ieme...).

My company instituted a ban on taxis and ubers to make employees use public transport while abroad because it's good for the environment.

Then our execs visited Paris - it only took one metro ride from the airport to get rid of the whole rule and have folks use taxis again. I always wondered what happened on that metro ride.

TBH, Paris’s metro is a national shame. It stinks everywhere, it’s dirty, it’s inaccessible, it’s barely decorated…

I don’t understand how we can tolerate this in the most touristic country of the world. I’ve never seen a network that bad, be it in other France cities or abroad.

it depends on the line, though. Line 1's way better than 13, for example

Still can't get over the fact it drives on tires. Makes it so bumpy.

The one time I fear for my life in Paris was in the back of a cab driven be a particularly aggressive driver.

30cm is a perfectly acceptable distance to keep from the car ahead of you. Anything more is wasted space.

Here in Greece, taxis are quite expensive. Think 5-10 times more expensive. They're faster and more convenient, sure, but not for everyday use.

You are downvoted but I can confirm the only time I was almost assaulted as a tourist was in the Paris metro. Then I came outside and it looked like a Mad Max scenario with somebody casually selling corn baked in a barrel fire.

If you mean Parisian subway, i can understand, some parts are really not pretty

That said, many large hubs have been rebuilt, only some small chunks of the network are still nasty.

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