3: Challenging Experiences (Thomas)

 Howdy Gang!

    Since being in Germany, I think one of the biggest challenges that has reshaped a piece of my perspective on the world is the broad use of public transportation, its advantages, challenges, and unreliability. The broad implementation and use of public transportation by the German population is very different from the individualistic driving culture of the United States. For this reason, I have become more conflicted coming to Germany and witnessing the advantages and disparities of a more integrated public transportation system nationwide. 

    Coming to Germany, I believed that public transportation was unnecessary in the States due to our world class interstate highway system. Not only is America built for cars, but most of our cities require having a car and thus further rooting the car culture in the American psyche. After witnessing public transportation in action in another developed and productive nation, I now see what public transportation offers that our more individualistic car-owning society could never. Primarily, cost. The cost to drive a vehicle in Germany is far greater than it is to drive a car in the United States. Even with their smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, their is no hiding from a gas pump that, when converted, comes out to $7.58 USD/ gallon on average across the nation and reaches nearer to $10.00 USD/gallon in some places. For this reason, the national train system has not only served as a public good, but an economic stimulant, allowing people to use their finances, which would be spent on fuel, elsewhere. 

    Secondly, international appeal. Anyone, from anywhere in the world can come here for business or tourism and never need to rent a car. I mean look at us for example. I will have been able to touch every state in Germany by the time we are through here and not once will I feel the need for a car. This cannot go unstated. If someone flys into the US, they have to have a friend come get them or they must rent a car. But any foreigner in the US is at the mercy of our highway system and their is very little alternative. This makes Germany a much more appealing place to visit and travel for business as one can have a confidence that they can do it all alone. 

    Alternatively however, there are certain issues with the DB in particular that, if we were to implement a similar system in the US, would have to be worked out. Firstly, reliability. This is the joke, and the all too disrupting reality. To be blunt, it boils my blood to know that the DB is a service, paid for by the German people daily, and that service is piss poor. In the United States, when money changes hands, we expect for the merchant to provide or do what was promised. When we have a train that is so late that it disrupts our plans for the full day, this cannot be explained by anything but apathy and underfunding. 

    If a similar system was implemented in the US, I would be apprehensive to take the trains even if they saved time. My thought process would always be "Well sure the train claims it can get me there by 5:30pm, but I can all but guarantee I'll get there by 6:00pm if I drive myself. This then renders the plus of having more freedom once at your destination and more reliable transportation on the return.

    To sum up my conflictedness, this is the line of thinking that I believe describes me most. An integrated national public transportation system would be "ours", but my car will always be "mine." Even if my car fails me, it is within my control. If the DB fails me, I feel vulnerable in a way. My plans have been ruined, not by my own faults, but by the incompetence of the system. So, maybe the cure to the American need for personal automobiles is a cure to the American need for control, independence, and self-responsibility. But then, we wouldn't really be Americans anymore, would we?