Re: Segway stunt disturbs the wa

[Taro Toporific]

"Prosecutors are now going to decide how much of a serious violation this is so I want to keep quiet for now .

Hmmmm. Let's see.
It's ok to park cars on the sidewalk.
It's ok to drive 50cc scooters on the sidewalk.
It's ok to put concrete utility poles amidst most roadways.
It's ok to put a tako yaki/octopus balls stand in the middle of the street.

But it's not ok to drive a Segway. Oh sure, that makes lots of sense.

[Caustic Saint]

It's ok to drive 50cc scooters on the sidewalk.

Only 50cc on the sidewalk? Pansies!

125cc is the standard sidewalk cruiser here, but I've seen every sort of bike on the "elevated bike lane" in Seoul.

[Blah Pete]

125cc is the standard sidewalk cruiser here, but I've seen every sort of bike on the "elevated bike lane" in Seoul.

In Korea you have to watch out for cars driving on the sidewalk.
The worst time to ride a taxi in Korea is in the winter because many taxis don't have snow tires - Slip and Slide...

[Big Booger]

Was he riding it on the street or on the sidewalk?

[Gestalt]

I thought I was gonna die riding a bus in Seoul. All the buses (not to mention the cars) were trying to cut each other off not unlike Mad Max. It was quite a change from the friendly, white-gloved waves between Tokyo bus drivers.

I saw some footage on a news show last week of bus drivers in Seoul being hit and kicked in the head by their own passengers.. one guy was just annoyed by the driver sounding the horn.. another attacked the driver because he got told to hurry up and get on the bus.
Looks like drivers there have to put up with a lot more than just agro from other vehicles

[AssKissinger]

I thought I was gonna die riding a bus in Seoul. All the buses (not to mention the cars) were trying to cut each other off not unlike Mad Max. It was quite a change from the friendly, white-gloved waves between Tokyo bus drivers.

I saw some footage on a news show last week of bus drivers in Seoul being hit and kicked in the head by their own passengers.. one guy was just annoyed by the driver sounding the horn.. another attacked the driver because he got told to hurry up and get on the bus.
Looks like drivers there have to put up with a lot more than just agro from other vehicles

I lived in Seoul for awhile but for sure the craziest bus rides I've ever had were in India. They burnt incence and prayed to elephant Gods that we would surivive the ride. Every once in a while you'd see a burnt out capsized bus on the side of the road and we'd miss oncoming traffic by inches, both vehicles going I swear 70 mph. It's like putting two Japanese highways going opposite directions on the same one and a half lane road with bicycles and rickshaws and cows and bulls and kids with water buffalo and walkers and trucks and huge potholes and unpaved sections. They don't even stop for fender benders. And the coolest thing is you can ride on the roof of the bus with tree branches and powerlines nearly decapitating all on top. I rode through a lot of Nepal Bangladesh and India that way.

[Gestalt]

I lived in Seoul for awhile but for sure the craziest bus rides I've ever had were in India. They burnt incence and prayed to elephant Gods that we would surivive the ride. Every once in a while you'd see a burnt out capsized bus on the side of the road and we'd miss oncoming traffic by inches, both vehicles going I swear 70 mph.

I haven't been to India but friends who have told me similar stories.. People putting goats and livestock in the overhead baggage nets etc.

Every once in a while you'd see a burnt out capsized bus on the side of the road

It wasn't in a bus, but that reminds me of something that did happened to me. I was flying into Fukuoka airport on Garuda back in 1996 and when I looked out the window saw the shell of a burn-out Garuda flight from a day or two before sitting near the runway.. It didn't exactly inspire confidence in our imminent landing!

http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~mi8n-AMN/gia/giaenkei3.jpg

[Caustic Saint]

I thought I was gonna die riding a bus in Seoul. All the buses (not to mention the cars) were trying to cut each other off not unlike Mad Max. It was quite a change from the friendly, white-gloved waves between Tokyo bus drivers.

I saw some footage on a news show last week of bus drivers in Seoul being hit and kicked in the head by their own passengers.. one guy was just annoyed by the driver sounding the horn.. another attacked the driver because he got told to hurry up and get on the bus.
Looks like drivers there have to put up with a lot more than just agro from other vehicles

Not every bus driver deserves the beatings they get, but I think many more of them don't get the beatings they deserve. The buses are all run by private companies, so there's little regulation as far as I can tell.

Drivers skip stops, run red lights, block intersections, refuse to turn on the AC in the summer, blast the heat when it's not even cold and are the biggest threats to road safety in the country.

I think the threat of random beatings may be just what these guys need to get them in line.

[AssKissinger]

I liked the buses in Korea overall. They do get you there and quickly. For that reason alone it beats any bus system in America. Taking the bus in the States in awful. I noticed that the buses in Korea have two horns. A pretty loud one and a louder than a Black Sabbath concert one. Some of the buses I rode in Pusan were far more crowded than anything I've ever seen in Japan. I remember buses being so packed I thought there would be no way anyone else could get in and he'd stop and like 50 more school kids would hop on.

[Caustic Saint]

I liked the buses in Korea overall. They do get you there and quickly. For that reason alone it beats any bus system in America. Taking the bus in the States in awful.

Tacoma, WA has the best bus system I've ever seen. Well-designed routes, convenient timetables and a great transfer system make it so it's quite easy to get around the city without a car. Korean buses can't come close to matching that setup.

[AssKissinger]

Really? That's surprising because Seattle's system is slow as molasses and Portland's is even worse. Tacoma? Dude, that's serious white trash territory. Where'd you live before that? Gresham?

[Caustic Saint]

Really? That's surprising because Seattle's system is slow as molasses and Portland's is even worse. Tacoma? Dude, that's serious white trash territory. Where'd you live before that? Gresham?

Seattle's system is bad because it has to deal with Seattle traffic. Tacoma is all suburbs compared to Seattle, so the traffic flow on the surface streets is much better.

Yeah, it's not that great a place to live. The bus system is probably it's best feature.

[Alcazar]

Cool stories all, transport overseas can be scary and memorable.

I have been on Greek public transport on a Greek island, where the bus winded its way around a narrow road around the edge of the island, with a drop-off on the side down to rocks and the Aegean sea. Upon entering towns, the bus would squeeze between buildings with centimetres to spare, and these building were covered in scrapes and chunks cut out where other vehicles had hit the sides.

Greek ferries between islands, what can you say? People don't line up in ordered lines, people of all ages just congregate in an insane mash around the narrow entrance or exit and push their way on. Lucky my family and I were carrying big bags of luggage, so this acted as a massive 'force-multiplier' in this situation. As a 13 year old, I could bounce Greeks out of the way if I moved forward through the crowd with momentum with a big luggage bag on each side-Greeks aren't that big either, so that helped. Perfectly acceptable too .

On board they are so disorganised much like the rest of Greece-(you WILL see examples of this in the coming Olympics this August). They don't check tickets when you get on-hours into the journey the crew just links arms and walks through the decks, and anyone with a ticket can get behind the moving wall of crew-primitive!!! That is just the tip of the iceberg-oneday something terrible is going to happen involving those ships sadly.