Not all places have trains, and not all buses are unpleasant. My rides in Hartford were all great. A lot of the anti-bus thing in America has some pretty ugly roots, but I'm not going to argue about it on HN.
At least in my experience, it's the bus itself that's unpleasant. Getting whipped side to side while the bus navigates streets it can barely fit on, loud creaking as every fastened component of the bus struggles for freedom as the structure of the bus flexes, and it's usually either too hot or too cold.
Add people to that and you've got a real grab bag.
I mean, sure, the relative safety of neighborhoods has some ugly roots too, but I'm not personally going to go live in a bad neighborhood just to prove a point.
