Hacker News Reader

Comment by pandaman | Hacker News Reader

Great thing is that you are free to not visit gas station's convenience store, can you use transit without visiting stations?

View on HN

This is not a sensible response: it’s not a matter of whether you can avoid visiting the convenience store, because millions of people do. There’s a clear demand for it, and accompanying crime.

(Besides, in most bus networks you actually can use the buses without using the stations — most allow riders to be dropped off anywhere along the route. But that’s entirely besides the point, as you haven’t presented a lick of evidence that statistically significant crime is happening in public transit stations.)

I can see how it can be confusing: you argue that transit is safe insisting that any crime happening around the transit use is irrelevant. You get mugged walking out of the station because that's where criminals expect solid foot traffic? Not transit fault, even though there is no way to avoid this situation while using transit. On the other hand, convenience stores on gas stations, where most crime is happening against clerks, are making driving dangerous for everyone even though you don't need to visit these stores while driving. I suspect you are emotionally invested in propagating the idea of transit safety and there is no point in further argument, which I only entered out of curiosity about your math.

That's up to you. I've laid out the numbers; statistically speaking, public transit is safer on both axes of accidents and crime. Including adjacent areas of society makes no sense unless we do the same for alternate modes of transportation, at which point the trend continues.

It's not about pure safety numbers. It's about my control of the situation. Once I step onto a train, I'm locked in (literally).

In my car I have a lot of control. Heck, I don't get into drive through fast food lines in sketchy areas because I don't like the idea of not being able to go forwards or backwards if a criminal type walks up to my car.

I ride motorcycles. Very dangerous. But I feel safe because I ride with my eyes open. In 20 years, I've had maybe 1 close call. While most riders I know have a crash in their first year.

In other words: you feel safe. And that's fine; I'm glad you do. But I like feeling safe because the statistics bear it out.

And that's how you end up being an unlucky victim. "hope is not a strategy"

And on public transit, basically all you have is hope.

Hope, and numbers! A good combination, in my book.

Great writing and breakdowns in this back and forth. Numbers don’t lie.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com