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Originally Posted by sentinel
Um, if you're a "25 year old Singaporean female MBA or programmer", you're most likely driving a BMW or Audi to UofC or Northwestern, and NOT taking the L...because almost anyone I know that has come to a top-tier university for graduate studies from a place like that has the money to not have to 'bother' with public transportation. The 'Anecdotal evidence game' can be played by anyone, just sayin'..
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Your finest hour has been often, but maybe not this hour; first, you needn't be so fixated on wealthy Singapore; the comment is generic to people coming from even modest Asian backgrounds, and they're not all going to have cars, and they're not all attending the top 2 schools here. Second, on a forum that is so rabidly anti car and pro transit, I don't know why you would use a driving scenario as a default case when ordinarily we're demanding everybody, even visitors, use transit. Third, as emathias pointed out, I was referring to commuting to work downtown, not students still in a campus coccoon. Fourth, there was no anecdote, there is only the standards of safety and comfort and cleanliness that people in modern Asian cities are used to on their train systems (related comment below).
Quote:
Originally Posted by marothisu
Of course it's BS. Not that it's proof, but my anecdotes include tons of visitors (friends or friends of friends) from Europe and Asia that I've taken around Chicago. All of them saw at least the train going around in the Loop and was right near it for the noise. I can't remember one person complaining. All of them thought it was pretty cool. Even my rich ex girlfriend from Malaysia and her rich friends from Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia took the train around everywhere in Chicago when they lived in Chicago even though they didn't necessarily have to.
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Visitors are polite. Visitors tend to find many things novel and fun when they first encounter them -- especially if they're focused on the scenery for the first couple times. Visitors aren't going to complain to the person taking them around, especially if a friend. Visitors usually aren't considering staying long term to work. Finally, visitors who have already made it to Chicago have already self-selected themselves to some degree.
Earsplitting noise is one massive factor in reducing safety and perception of safety, and more so for a foreign visitor. It creates many situations where you can't call for help, even to the person next to you, and you can't explain a situation to an attendant, if you can get the attention of an attendant -- especially if in broken English. To say nothing of being stymied from making a call on a cellphone, whether that's for help or advice or just to confirm the location for an interview. The very notion that you can't reliably take a call from a client or make a call to your boss, without having to time it based on being in between stations or in between trains, is a step down from professional life in a city with a modern rail system. Keep in mind this isn't just during commuting - in most giant cities, businesspeople can be on the train several times during the day, to and from client meetings.