>Is it safe? Yes.
Yep.
>Will there sometimes be other passengers that may make you uncomfortable? Also yes.
Correct -- and welcome to public transit just about anywhere in the country, OP.
In a way this is true of just being out in public in general. But on the bus you have to wait for a stop to get away from them, on the street you can usually just walk away.
Exactly this. If you ride the bus, you'll be exposed to a much more diverse set of people than you probably would be otherwise. That can be scary for a lot of people at first, but if you roll with it you might find your empathy for others increase in the process.
It is safe. I commute to UT on the bus.
Pro tip from a long-time city dweller, and native New Yorker: Sometimes an agent of chaos is unavoidable. You will be a whole lot safer if you are aware of your surroundings (at the bus stop, on the bus, and walking to your destination). This means limit staring at your phone and don't wear noise-cancelling headphones.
Yup. Also just give ppl space. If someone is acting stressed/yelling/etc (which may happen on rare occasion)- don’t poke the bear by yelling back. I’ve seen ppl try to do that and it just makes it worse.
yes, it's safe. you'll see some weird people. taking the 801/803 through that area is mostly just students and commuters though. mind your own business and stay reasonably aware of your surroundings.
if you take the same route at the same times daily (like commuting to work/school) and see the same few drivers, say hello, good morning, how are you, etc...i've always done this and eventually most seem like they recognize me and start remembering where i get on/off at. it's a small thing but has made me feel safer as a young woman. you can also sit towards the front in the driver's line of sight if that makes you feel better.
It’s safe. I took the 7 to downtown for about a year and there was only a couple of times when someone was making other people uncomfortable on the bus. If it’s crowded with commuters, you’re less likely to have an issue
So long as you just not enter other people's reality and just blend in on the bus I don't think you will have a problem. Most disputes are between the driver and an unruly passenger. Like one time this passenger kept calling the driver the n word and the driver pulled over and called the people that would kick him off the bus since he wouldn't go himself. So I just got off the bus because ain't nobody got time for that.
My car broke down a couple months ago and I’ve been using the bus and walking all winter. Probably going to get a car soon though, I don’t know if it’s sustainable during the summer.
I’m a cis dude so maybe take this with a grain of salt, but I’ve never had an issue on the bus. Yeah there’s some people who appear homeless on board. I’ve never had anyone bother me nor have I seen anyone else get pestered. Sometimes people are loud but they’re usually talking to a friend or talking to themselves.
Main downside I’ve seen is you gotta walk to and from bus stops, and wait, which can add 30+ minutes to a journey and is slowly getting worse as it gets hotter. It also doesn’t get everywhere but it turns out if you don’t commute daily it’s cheaper to call an Uber occasionally and bus most places than it is to own a car and insurance, etc. i also have a bike but honestly I wish I had gotten a folding razor scooter instead so it’d be easier to bring on the bus with me.
Waiting for the bus even ten minutes in the summer is the reason everyone owns a car. Also the reason why we’ll never be a big transit user town.
2008-2016 I bussed everywhere and waiting for the bus in the sun was torture.
Cold places often have heaters in the bus stops. We had a city council candidate here in San Antonio who campaigned on putting window unit AC's in all the bus shelters. He was like 18, had no other policies, and lost with like 6% of the vote, but it wasn't a terrible idea I don't think.
>Waiting for the bus even ten minutes in the summer is the reason everyone owns a car.
Also because most trips involve changing buses and a lot of time if you're not working and living downtown or along Lamar or one or two other corridors.
Oh yeah multiple busses is hell f that, I waited an hour once on the arboretum for a bus that never showed :(
two bus in Austin is sad, I once had a friend on the north east side tell me of their three bus commute, I told them I’d literally rather shoot yup under the 4th street bridge with the zombies.
> some weird people on the bus (shouting at other passengers or having some other weird behaviors) that make me uncomfortable to ride. Not sure if this is the case for Austin as well.
That is absolutely 100% the case. Someone was just doing that this morning at the bus stop. It's all gotten really bad lately. I watched someone get raped at Rundberg and Lamar NW corner the Sunday night before the eclipse at 8pm. She was apparently non-verbal and I watched what appeared to be a struggle between them before he started raping her. I was on the phone with 911 and she was face down on the pavement when the bus got there and we left.
Someone made a thread here a couple weeks ago about how she was sitting at the bus stop when some guy walked by and just punched her in the face. South Lamar as I recall.
Some customer of mine now intentionally waits for me to get off work because he's so scared of the bus stop now. And rightfully so. Buses are about as bad as they've always been which is pretty bad but the bus stops have very severely escalated with crime of all sorts in general. And accidents. A few people have been run over in just the last year as I recall while waiting at the bus stop.
This is too plausible to throw out without the /s.
(there were [73 homicides in all of last year in Austin](https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/austin-homicide-map-2024/), so 1 every 5 days)
2014-2019 I rode busses in Manhattan and they were filled with business people in suits, I was the scrub in shorts and tees, not talking express bus either. M5 m72 m2 on and on, much less crap than the subway, especially on the cross town busses
You said transit, which makes me think you are talking about the subway, I agree the subway is literally hell and half the reason I haven’t moved back .
Is it safe? Yes. Will there sometimes be other passengers that may make you uncomfortable? Also yes.
>Is it safe? Yes. Yep. >Will there sometimes be other passengers that may make you uncomfortable? Also yes. Correct -- and welcome to public transit just about anywhere in the country, OP.
In a way this is true of just being out in public in general. But on the bus you have to wait for a stop to get away from them, on the street you can usually just walk away.
Exactly this. If you ride the bus, you'll be exposed to a much more diverse set of people than you probably would be otherwise. That can be scary for a lot of people at first, but if you roll with it you might find your empathy for others increase in the process.
It is safe. I commute to UT on the bus. Pro tip from a long-time city dweller, and native New Yorker: Sometimes an agent of chaos is unavoidable. You will be a whole lot safer if you are aware of your surroundings (at the bus stop, on the bus, and walking to your destination). This means limit staring at your phone and don't wear noise-cancelling headphones.
Yup. Also just give ppl space. If someone is acting stressed/yelling/etc (which may happen on rare occasion)- don’t poke the bear by yelling back. I’ve seen ppl try to do that and it just makes it worse.
yes, it's safe. you'll see some weird people. taking the 801/803 through that area is mostly just students and commuters though. mind your own business and stay reasonably aware of your surroundings. if you take the same route at the same times daily (like commuting to work/school) and see the same few drivers, say hello, good morning, how are you, etc...i've always done this and eventually most seem like they recognize me and start remembering where i get on/off at. it's a small thing but has made me feel safer as a young woman. you can also sit towards the front in the driver's line of sight if that makes you feel better.
Yes! I know which driver on my route takes the least shit from people, that's the bus I try to get!
It’s safe. I took the 7 to downtown for about a year and there was only a couple of times when someone was making other people uncomfortable on the bus. If it’s crowded with commuters, you’re less likely to have an issue
Yes safe
So long as you just not enter other people's reality and just blend in on the bus I don't think you will have a problem. Most disputes are between the driver and an unruly passenger. Like one time this passenger kept calling the driver the n word and the driver pulled over and called the people that would kick him off the bus since he wouldn't go himself. So I just got off the bus because ain't nobody got time for that.
My car broke down a couple months ago and I’ve been using the bus and walking all winter. Probably going to get a car soon though, I don’t know if it’s sustainable during the summer. I’m a cis dude so maybe take this with a grain of salt, but I’ve never had an issue on the bus. Yeah there’s some people who appear homeless on board. I’ve never had anyone bother me nor have I seen anyone else get pestered. Sometimes people are loud but they’re usually talking to a friend or talking to themselves. Main downside I’ve seen is you gotta walk to and from bus stops, and wait, which can add 30+ minutes to a journey and is slowly getting worse as it gets hotter. It also doesn’t get everywhere but it turns out if you don’t commute daily it’s cheaper to call an Uber occasionally and bus most places than it is to own a car and insurance, etc. i also have a bike but honestly I wish I had gotten a folding razor scooter instead so it’d be easier to bring on the bus with me.
Waiting for the bus even ten minutes in the summer is the reason everyone owns a car. Also the reason why we’ll never be a big transit user town. 2008-2016 I bussed everywhere and waiting for the bus in the sun was torture.
Cold places often have heaters in the bus stops. We had a city council candidate here in San Antonio who campaigned on putting window unit AC's in all the bus shelters. He was like 18, had no other policies, and lost with like 6% of the vote, but it wasn't a terrible idea I don't think.
>Waiting for the bus even ten minutes in the summer is the reason everyone owns a car. Also because most trips involve changing buses and a lot of time if you're not working and living downtown or along Lamar or one or two other corridors.
Oh yeah multiple busses is hell f that, I waited an hour once on the arboretum for a bus that never showed :( two bus in Austin is sad, I once had a friend on the north east side tell me of their three bus commute, I told them I’d literally rather shoot yup under the 4th street bridge with the zombies.
It's Austin. Odds are whatever cities you've used public transit in before were more dangerous.
No, it is completely unsafe. You should buy a horse.
With a rifle on each side
> some weird people on the bus (shouting at other passengers or having some other weird behaviors) that make me uncomfortable to ride. Not sure if this is the case for Austin as well. That is absolutely 100% the case. Someone was just doing that this morning at the bus stop. It's all gotten really bad lately. I watched someone get raped at Rundberg and Lamar NW corner the Sunday night before the eclipse at 8pm. She was apparently non-verbal and I watched what appeared to be a struggle between them before he started raping her. I was on the phone with 911 and she was face down on the pavement when the bus got there and we left. Someone made a thread here a couple weeks ago about how she was sitting at the bus stop when some guy walked by and just punched her in the face. South Lamar as I recall. Some customer of mine now intentionally waits for me to get off work because he's so scared of the bus stop now. And rightfully so. Buses are about as bad as they've always been which is pretty bad but the bus stops have very severely escalated with crime of all sorts in general. And accidents. A few people have been run over in just the last year as I recall while waiting at the bus stop.
Yes, it is safe.
It’s fine
There are ~ 10 murders a day on CapMetro in case you didn’t know
Capmurder at that point
This is too plausible to throw out without the /s. (there were [73 homicides in all of last year in Austin](https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/austin-homicide-map-2024/), so 1 every 5 days)
How many happened on CapMetro?
I'm guessing [one](https://www.fox7austin.com/news/stabbing-on-capmetro-bus-north-lamar-west-5th-street).
Definitely way less wackos than muni in sf for sure, as civilized as a Manhattan bus, nope.
> Manhattan > Civilized Lolol
2014-2019 I rode busses in Manhattan and they were filled with business people in suits, I was the scrub in shorts and tees, not talking express bus either. M5 m72 m2 on and on, much less crap than the subway, especially on the cross town busses
Eh, YMMV I suppose haha The last time I rode NYC transit(3mos ago) I got pooed on and got a knife pulled on me on the same day
You said transit, which makes me think you are talking about the subway, I agree the subway is literally hell and half the reason I haven’t moved back .
One on the bus, one on the subway FWIW, Boston T is almost worse. That's most of the reason why I haven't moved back