But waiting a total of 25 minutes isn’t bad compared to someone who lives in rural areas where the services are less frequent than in the city.
For instance, this week, I went from my apartment in Dresden to a village called Dippoldiswalde. Dippoldiswalde is about an hour away from Dresden on Bus 360. Since Dippoldiswalde is a village,there are few services from Dresden -- only one bus every hour. I had to take a tram from my apartment to the Hauptbahnhof (train station) and then catch the bus from there. But since the bus only leaves once an hour, if I had missed my bus, I would have had to wait an entire hour for the next one and would have missed my meeting.
In my opinion, Germans in cities may be more used to public transit than Americans. Public transit is a big part of the culture. More and more Germans in cities, however, enjoy the luxury and prestige that owning a car means.
However, in the rural areas, owning a car is a necessity. People need cars to get to work, shop at the grocery store and visit the doctor’s office, among other reasons. Many people in rural areas earn less than those who live in cities because there are fewer jobs and industries left in rural areas here.
If it becomes more expensive to own a car, then people living in rural areas will have a harder time getting around. They know this and that’s why transportation is becoming a really important topic in local politics. People regularly talk about transportation issues and demand that cities and the state find ways to make transportation more reliable for people.
