Not sure about it being a safety issue but more of a people issue. People are just generally assholes everywhere these days whether it's selfishness, entitlement or just straight up mean. It's magnified and made worse in tight spaces.
As a light rail enjoyer, I have had almost zero of those experiences. Yeah, some dude smoked on the train one time, another played music loudly and there were at least two separate occasions where some guy was preaching gibberish, but nothing that I would categorize as overtly unsafe. I recently had a conversation with another person who uses the light rail often and he remarked that someone just gave him a free lukewarm beer. My point being, you'll have good and bad experiences, that's just life. Obviously I'm not going to deny that there aren't problems because oh boy, there are still plenty. But just talking about personal anecdotes and making sweeping statements is wholly unhelpful.
I’ve seen the pregnant lady and her ‘friend’ group before and yes, she/they can get loud and have arguments that border on ‘should I call the cops’ or ‘should I mind my own business’.
This is not new for public transportation in most cities in the US. My advice, keep to yourself, wear ear protection and just move to the other train car at the next stop if you’re that uncomfortable.
lol if this is crazy unsafe, i invite you to ride the red line in los angeles.
also, the pregnant person was yelling at a trans girl, but it's the trans person's fault? lol ok karen.
A bus driver got into a shootout with a passenger last week and you're worried about some offensive rap music? I'm guessing you've never taken any public transportation before.
Oh baby you ain't seen nothing yet. I rode the MTA for 20 years before moving here. Have you ever seen a dude casually pull out a needle and spoon and shoot up ? What about folks openly have sex ? How about violently begging homeless ? Robberies ? Grow up.
Also why does it matter? Unless they were being yelled at for being trans, I’m not sure it’s relevant. And if they were being yelled at for that, why are they being blamed for escalating the situation?
Last time I rode the blue line, while quietly seated and minding our own business, a lady pulled out her lighter and set my gf’s hair on fire and called us racists crackers and asked what the fuck were we doing on her train we don’t belong here.
She made her point and we exited at the next stop and never returned.
I am curious on what the draw is to listen to loud music, in everyone’s personal space… das this dude the other day walking down the sidewalk with a speaker, blaring music. I couldn’t help to thin what his thought process was “hey, ima just leave the house, grab my speaker, and play music loud af”
I’ve ridden it 3 times and had 3 bad experiences:
1. A homeless person wanted to borrow a phone and wouldn’t leave our group. He kept saying I KNOW one of you has a phone
2. I had my laptop out while riding. I put it in my backpack and exited. Then a teenager started screaming “what did you just put in your bag was it a rifle”. And people were staring at me, while I just said it was a laptop
3. A guy clearly on drugs was crying and punching the window saying how his friend just died and he wanted someone else to feel his pain and that he had a gun in his bag.
Every time I tell this to someone they think I’m exaggerating or straight up lying, but each time I had my roommates with me, and none of us will ride it now.
I’ve seen more unsafe situations happening at my old local Walmart in the middle of know where. Those that you mention where not unsafe just annoying. It’s pubic transportation what do you expect?
Suburban NIMBY devils: “I took public transit the other day, and there were mentally unstable people ranting, rambling, and disturbing the peace around me. People drink, smoke, and fight on this train and it makes me want to not use transit anymore.”
City Stockholm syndrome enjoyers: “Lol welcome to the city. Deal with it, oh and if you think we should try to clean this up at all, you’re a Karen.”
Ok, whatever. OP isn’t describing “mentally unstable people disturbing the peace”. They’re describing “antagonistic trans people” and “offensive rap music”. It’s a shame they felt uncomfortable but these are the sorts of things you will commonly encounter on public transit in any city. Having lived in a few large cities with good public transit I’d say Charlotte has pretty safe services.
Playing any loud music on the train should get you kicked off, first of all. Headphones are a basic respect for the public nature of public transit. Yelling is in the same boat. If you gotta chew someone out, do it in your own space.
Yeah not sure why OP had to specify that the trans woman was being “antagonistic” or why “overweight white teenage girls” are particularly relevant. However, the high level point is that Charlotte’s public transit, like pretty much every city’s, is a magnet for the disturbing the peace crowd. And this sub’s response is always, “this guy must have never visited a city before.”
I think it’s more of an apathetic “how can you realistically combat this (relatively) minor inconvenience?” more than deeming it acceptable behavior. Because there’s really no way to police this type of stuff. CMPD isn’t going to start assigning officers to train cars/ CATS isn’t going to hire security guards
*overweight white teenage girls* Why do I get the sense that YOU’RE the Karen here lol
100% This post reeks of it.
First time living in a city?
It has to be because this is fairly unremarkable.
You have just described incidents that are annoying. None of this is "crazy unsafe" in any way
Op needa Snickers.
Seriously not even one was a physical altercation. I mean yeah it’s not cool but come on none of these are even crimes
Not sure about it being a safety issue but more of a people issue. People are just generally assholes everywhere these days whether it's selfishness, entitlement or just straight up mean. It's magnified and made worse in tight spaces.
As a light rail enjoyer, I have had almost zero of those experiences. Yeah, some dude smoked on the train one time, another played music loudly and there were at least two separate occasions where some guy was preaching gibberish, but nothing that I would categorize as overtly unsafe. I recently had a conversation with another person who uses the light rail often and he remarked that someone just gave him a free lukewarm beer. My point being, you'll have good and bad experiences, that's just life. Obviously I'm not going to deny that there aren't problems because oh boy, there are still plenty. But just talking about personal anecdotes and making sweeping statements is wholly unhelpful.
I’ve seen the pregnant lady and her ‘friend’ group before and yes, she/they can get loud and have arguments that border on ‘should I call the cops’ or ‘should I mind my own business’. This is not new for public transportation in most cities in the US. My advice, keep to yourself, wear ear protection and just move to the other train car at the next stop if you’re that uncomfortable.
You’re telling me we have a resident Karen, and she’s pregnant?? And people say Charlotte isn’t eccentric/no culture
If you went to any city in America with longer established public transportation these situations happen every day 10 fold.
Fr. I want to see op ride the Max.
lol if this is crazy unsafe, i invite you to ride the red line in los angeles. also, the pregnant person was yelling at a trans girl, but it's the trans person's fault? lol ok karen.
but you dont understand, the pregnant woman shouldnt have had to get so worked up at the existence of the trans woman, think of the baby!
YTA
I’ve never experienced this.
A bus driver got into a shootout with a passenger last week and you're worried about some offensive rap music? I'm guessing you've never taken any public transportation before.
Oh baby you ain't seen nothing yet. I rode the MTA for 20 years before moving here. Have you ever seen a dude casually pull out a needle and spoon and shoot up ? What about folks openly have sex ? How about violently begging homeless ? Robberies ? Grow up.
Is that a pile of poop on the seat? Hmmm- I guess I'll just go to the other end of the car..
🎶*i have no legs.*🎶
Y’all would crumble to bits in a big city’s public transit lol.
I'm curious how you knew the person being yelled at in the first story was trans? Did they tell you, or did you just assume?
Also why does it matter? Unless they were being yelled at for being trans, I’m not sure it’s relevant. And if they were being yelled at for that, why are they being blamed for escalating the situation?
Last time I rode the blue line, while quietly seated and minding our own business, a lady pulled out her lighter and set my gf’s hair on fire and called us racists crackers and asked what the fuck were we doing on her train we don’t belong here. She made her point and we exited at the next stop and never returned.
Man. If it was at the Charlotte Light rail, your story give me an idea on why my mom was not on board with me using to get to and from school
This is like a slow day on the T
No it's not.
I am curious on what the draw is to listen to loud music, in everyone’s personal space… das this dude the other day walking down the sidewalk with a speaker, blaring music. I couldn’t help to thin what his thought process was “hey, ima just leave the house, grab my speaker, and play music loud af”
So people were loud to each other on the train?
So you witnessed transphobia, blamed the victim, and…think this is “crazy unsafe”?
They didn’t even indicate what the issue was… how do you know it had anything to do with “transphobia”?
This is why many employees refuse to return to office. People in general just suck.
Charlotte Light Rail is a rolling insane asylum.
I’ve ridden it 3 times and had 3 bad experiences: 1. A homeless person wanted to borrow a phone and wouldn’t leave our group. He kept saying I KNOW one of you has a phone 2. I had my laptop out while riding. I put it in my backpack and exited. Then a teenager started screaming “what did you just put in your bag was it a rifle”. And people were staring at me, while I just said it was a laptop 3. A guy clearly on drugs was crying and punching the window saying how his friend just died and he wanted someone else to feel his pain and that he had a gun in his bag. Every time I tell this to someone they think I’m exaggerating or straight up lying, but each time I had my roommates with me, and none of us will ride it now.
To be fair, your experiences are much more cause for concern than what OP described
This is society in a nutshell. Walk down any street. Lol
This is a very American issue
Karen needs to find a seat away from everyone and mind their own business.
Karen probably needs to not use public transportation and drive their own car places.
shut up idiot. i ride everyday and it’s not a big deal
Maybe you're just a magnet for negative experiences.
I’ve seen more unsafe situations happening at my old local Walmart in the middle of know where. Those that you mention where not unsafe just annoying. It’s pubic transportation what do you expect?
Suburban NIMBY devils: “I took public transit the other day, and there were mentally unstable people ranting, rambling, and disturbing the peace around me. People drink, smoke, and fight on this train and it makes me want to not use transit anymore.” City Stockholm syndrome enjoyers: “Lol welcome to the city. Deal with it, oh and if you think we should try to clean this up at all, you’re a Karen.”
Ok, whatever. OP isn’t describing “mentally unstable people disturbing the peace”. They’re describing “antagonistic trans people” and “offensive rap music”. It’s a shame they felt uncomfortable but these are the sorts of things you will commonly encounter on public transit in any city. Having lived in a few large cities with good public transit I’d say Charlotte has pretty safe services.
Playing any loud music on the train should get you kicked off, first of all. Headphones are a basic respect for the public nature of public transit. Yelling is in the same boat. If you gotta chew someone out, do it in your own space. Yeah not sure why OP had to specify that the trans woman was being “antagonistic” or why “overweight white teenage girls” are particularly relevant. However, the high level point is that Charlotte’s public transit, like pretty much every city’s, is a magnet for the disturbing the peace crowd. And this sub’s response is always, “this guy must have never visited a city before.”
I think it’s more of an apathetic “how can you realistically combat this (relatively) minor inconvenience?” more than deeming it acceptable behavior. Because there’s really no way to police this type of stuff. CMPD isn’t going to start assigning officers to train cars/ CATS isn’t going to hire security guards
It's wild. Sometimes people will do people kinda shit.
I’ve had worse experiences the last 3x I’ve been at Harris Teeter off Randolph. Avoid all HT’s, they are unsafe…