Further. Faster. Safer.

Public transportation has always been a huge part of my life growing up in Brazil. If I’m not mistaken, I started taking the metro, train and bus when I was 8 years old with my mom – that is a teacher – and that is how we would go to school every day. I vividly remember that depending on the time you would take it, it would drastically change from being somewhat spacious to an absolutely chaotic tuna can. Nevertheless, I can’t emphasize it enough how good it was to be back in a public transportation oriented world after spending two years in South Carolina. I find the time I took the 95 to work or back home (as shown in the picture below) to be a time of rest, where I could listen to music, reflect and observe. I truly enjoyed bit, besides the fact that it’s much more environmentally friendly than having a car being driven by one person. I remember towards the end of my stay there, I was unlucky enough to have the bus gently scratch a car twice in a two to three-week period! It was definitely a mess, everyone that was inside had to leave the bus and patiently wait for the next one. Sometimes it took 20+ minutes for the following one to arrive, and when it did, we would all squeeze in together. Fortunately, I would always find a familiar Furman or EPA student that was stuck in the same situation as mine, so that made the situation a lot better.

According to the official public transportation site of Brussels, also known as MIVB STIB, “Brussels is one of the greenest capitals in Europe.” From my experience, I have seen that the Belgians greatly rely on it. No wonder it runs from Monday to Sunday, from 5am to midnight, and that they provide midnight shuttles during the weekends. The STIB network says that they have more than 2,200 stops, and all are very easily located. During my weekend trips to different European countries, I saw how each city heavily relies on it as well. Last semester I had the opportunity to study away in Madrid, “Spain’s largest capital [which provides] clean and efficient public transportation network” (Devour Madrid). They have 13 lines, more than 300 stations and are available from 6am to 1:30am. I am sure I speak in behalf of me entire group that our days wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t take the metro or the bus!

With all of that being said, I have really enjoyed frequently using the public transportation and would much rather go to work by bus/metro instead of being stuck in the car for countless hours due to the traffic jams and polluting the environment. As the Commission stated in their official ec.europa website, “public transport is a good way to reduce congestion and environment and health-harming emissions in urban areas, especially when they run on alternative, cleaner fuels.” I admire how heavily they encourage such choice, hence why Europe has such mentality and other countries should strive to develop one as well!

Pictures I took of Madrid's public transportation system when studying abroad in Spain.