The Joy of Public Transport
Few things bring us together like public transport. On the bus, train or tram, we have little choice but to jostle up together—with all the wonderful, uncomfortable and unexpected exchanges that can result. Remember how Harry met Hermione and Ron!
There’s a quiet magic in using public transport—a moving theater of humanity. On trams, buses, and trains, we step inside as strangers, yet for a fleeting moment, our lives intertwine. We glimpse each other’s lives: a student lost in their notes, a parent soothing a restless child, a tired worker gazing at the passing scenery. For most, the journey is simply a necessity of daily life, but public transport can be a means of discovery—not just of where we live and its surroundings but of the people we share it with.
Even though working from home has limited the trips that I'm making now, taking public transport is first and foremost a lovely day out, whenever needed. Although I’d love using my bicycle, living out in the suburbs limits my choices - and I'm feeling lucky enough we at least have a bus here - which most of the suburbs do not.
Exploring
I remember when I first moved in Constanta, which was the biggest town next to where I born: I was able to use my student pass to travel across the city in all the buses, getting to know it, and explore it, which I could have never done by foot. With a little sadness, I remember the old tram lines that I used to ride when I was a child - but which were unfortunately pulled out, as in many other cities.
Later on in life, when I moved to Bucharest, I decided to do the same: hop on the longer bus or tram routes, and get to know the city.
Although I always loved the subway train - and the idea of getting in the underground in one point of the city, and coming out the other way feels magical - I'd sometimes rather have the chance of seeing the city, than the dark tunnels. Even more so if we’re talking about train rides out of the city:
I enjoy the public transport not just as a way to explore but for the pleasure of the experience. That’s often not the case for commuters, for whom the frequent diversions and stop-start progress can be infuriating, but when you have nowhere to be, there is an almost therapeutic quality in ceding all responsibility to the driver and seeing where you end up.
Sometimes it’s the passengers themselves that lend public transport its sense of spontaneity. Although I'm not the type to seek out a conversation with a stranger - I usually have my headphones on - one of the pleasures of using public transport is that it's impossible to shut people off completely. For better or for worse. And seeing life happen around you.
I discovered so many places that I never would have known about had I not passed them on the bus, tram or train.
Social bonding
It also speaks to the importance of public transport as a social lifeline: a space to travel together. I remember taking the "maxi taxi" bus, which was a much smaller bus that was passing the building I was living in, and I was taking it daily at least a couple of times. I knew all the drivers, and they knew me, too. It was stopping anywhere you wanted, not only in stations, and they already knew my usual stops: home, work, uni, downtown.
Controversy
Unlike cars, which isolate us in bubbles of steel and glass, public transport draws us together. It’s a shared space, a rhythm that links lives otherwise separate. We may not speak, but we share the journey, the pauses, the small human moments that remind us we are never truly alone.
Perhaps this is the quiet power of public transport: it connects us. Not just across distances, but to one another, in ways that are both fleeting and profound.
I will get into it with a later article, but for now, I just want tot say that "A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It's where the rich use public transportation." (Gustavo Petro)
And maybe Paul McCartney can convince you, too:
In conclusion
Public transport is more than just a means of getting from point A to point B. It is a microcosm of the world we inhabit, a space where we are reminded—if only for a moment—that we are all part of something larger. The public transport is something that we inherently share with the world. It's ours, but it’s also everyone else’s.
As our cities grow and change, as we strive to live more intentionally and sustainably, the importance of these shared spaces becomes ever clearer. So, next time you board a bus, a tram, or a train, take a moment to look around—not just at where you’re going, but at the people you’re traveling with. In these fleeting moments, there’s a quiet joy, a profound connection, and perhaps, a glimpse of the ineffable.
PS: I hope the mighty plans of the EU will create a (better) high speed rail network in Europe. It’s time to ditch that plane.