[lenepp]

It's kind of incredible the article doesn't mention it, but the typical city bus makes sounds at a decibel level that is harmful to the human body (anything above 85 dB is harmful).

There's a scene in Mad Men that I always like to bring up when it comes to things like this, where the Drapers are having a picnic in a bucolic park, and then they just get up and walk away, leaving their trash behind. It looks crazy and stupid to us now, because we all collectively woke up and realized that damaging the world around us makes life worse.

People are using buses less partly for the same reason that they stopped littering, and normal cars have gotten steadily quieter over the years: they're waking up to how painfully awful city buses are.

The day will come when someone will make a show about our times, and it will feature a city bus pulling up and drowning out a conversation, and all the characters in the scene, who ignore it or just start shouting over it without thinking, will look as ridiculous to future viewers, as the Drapers did to us in that scene.

[BubRoss]

You think people don't ride buses because they are loud to the people around them? A bus is still going to be there if they ride it or not.

[nakkijono]

Most of the loudness discomfort I've experienced while riding the bus comes from waiting the bus on the roadside. Traffic in general is ridiculously noisy for pedestrians. Especially at ~50mph the road noise starts to be unbearable. Inside a car it's all so quiet. Reducing traffic speeds would help with this a lot.

[prophesi]

And the popular alternative of taking the subway is definitely not an improvement in terms of hearing loss.

[ganzuul]

Bus companies are investing in EVs since it is likely fossil fuels will be banned in city centers pretty soon.

Perhaps the culture really is that diffrent in the U.S., that I never expected someone to prefer personal vehicles to public transit for environmental reasons.