+
upworthy
Most Shared

When a reporter made fun of Justin Trudeau for taking the bus, he had a great comeback.

Shortly after being sworn in, new Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his ministers picked a novel way to travel to their first cabinet meeting.

Photo by Geoff Robins/Getty Images.


All together. On a bus.

Similar to this one. Photo by Eastmain/Wikimedia Commons.

The sight of powerful government officials crammed together in one large vehicle struck Peter Mansbridge of the CBC as funny:

"It still feels like you should be singing, like, some 'We're going to camp' song," Mansbridge said.

To which Trudeau responded:

(To be fair, Trudeau did acknowledge that he and his cabinet probably won't always take the bus — and would occasionally opt for a car service or a limo as their jobs required it.)

Trudeau is right. Lots of people do take the bus to work.

Not a lot of high-profile reporters and politicians, perhaps, but lots of regular people, many who don't have the option to travel by private car.

At the same time, there's a stigma associated with taking the bus. Wealthy riders often frequently avoid buses — both because they tend to live in lower-density areas and because bus travel is so firmly associated with poverty.

When the rich and powerful do take public transit — like when Jake Gyllenhaal or Jay-Z takes the subway — it's often portrayed as a big deal, as if it's somehow generous or "real" of them to travel the way millions of regular commuters do each day.

As a result, cities often don't seem to care all that much about bus lines or their riders.

Cities really should care more about public transit — and invest more in it.

Photo by AEMoreira042281/Wikimedia Commons.

Unlike cars, which can deliver five to seven people to a destination in a single trip (and, real talk, typically carry just one or maybe two during your average rush hour), buses can carry dozens in the amount of road space occupied by just two or three cars. Not only does that help clear up road congestions and lower total emissions, but there are massive economic benefits to providing cheap transportation to people who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford it.

According to a 2013 Rutgers University study, increasing the number of available public transit seats by 10% can increase total wages in a city by over $1.5 billion per year (this includes not just buses but subways, light rail, and other methods).

That's why Trudeau's offhand response is actually kinda great.

Photo by Miles, the MBTA Guy/Wikimedia Commons.

No one should be stigmatized for riding the bus — from the prime minister of Canada to a single mom trying to get to her second job. Poor and middle-class people need safe, reliable means of getting to work just like wealthier people, and they shouldn't be shamed for taking one that's cheap, convenient, and environmentally friendly.

Which is why it's so important for cities to keep those wheels going 'round...

And 'round.

A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman.


Dogs are naturally driven by a sense of purpose and a need for belonging, which are all part of their instinctual pack behavior. When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family.

But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, dogs have fewer chores they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A doggy mom in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pitbull-Lab mix does around the house.

Keep ReadingShow less
Representative Image from Canva

Let's not curse any more children with bad names, shall we?

Some parents have no trouble giving their children perfectly unique, very meaningful names that won’t go on to ruin their adulthood. But others…well…they get an A for effort, but might want to consider hiring a baby name professional.

Things of course get even more complicated when one parent becomes attached to a name that they’re partner finds completely off-putting. It almost always leads to a squabble, because the more one parent is against the name, the more the other parent will go to bat for it.

This seemed to be the case for one soon-to-be mom on the Reddit AITA forum recently. Apparently, she was second-guessing her vehement reaction to her husband’s, ahem, avant garde baby name for their daughter, which she called “the worst name ever.”

But honestly, when you hear this name, I think you’ll agree she was totally in the right.

Keep ReadingShow less

An English doctor named Edward Jenner took incredible risks to try to rid his world of smallpox. Because of his efforts and the efforts of scientists like him, the only thing between deadly diseases like the ones below and extinction are people who refuse to vaccinate their kids. Don't be that parent.

Unfortunately, because of the misinformation from the anti-vaccination movement, some of these diseases have trended up in a really bad way over the past several years.

Keep ReadingShow less

A beautiful cruise ship crossing the seas.

Going on a cruise can be an incredible getaway from the stresses of life on the mainland. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t an element of danger when living on a ship 200-plus feet high, traveling up to 35 miles per hour and subject to the whims of the sea.

An average of about 19 people go overboard every year, and only around 28% survive. Cruise ship lawyer Spencer Aronfeld explained the phenomenon in a viral TikTok video, in which he also revealed the secret code the crew uses when tragedy happens.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Kudos to the heroes who had 90 seconds to save lives in the Key Bridge collapse

The loss of 6 lives is tragic, but the dispatch recording shows it could have been so much worse.

Representative image by Gustavo Fring/Pexels

The workers who responded to the Dali's mayday call saved lives with their quick response.

As more details of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore emerge, it's becoming more apparent how much worse this catastrophe could have been.

Just minutes before 1:30am on March 26, shortly after leaving port in Baltimore Harbor, a cargo ship named Dali lost power and control of its steering, sending it careening into a structural pillar on Key Bridge. The crew of the Dali issued a mayday call at 1:26am to alert authorities of the power failure, giving responders crucial moments to prepare for a potential collision. Just 90 seconds later, the ship hit a pylon, triggering a total collapse of the 1.6-mile bridge into the Patapsco River.

Dispatch audio of those moments shows the calm professionalism and quick actions that limited the loss of life in an unexpected situation where every second counted.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Yale's pep band had to miss the NCAA tournament. University of Idaho said, 'We got you.'

In an act of true sportsmanship, the Vandal band learned Yale's fight song, wore their gear and cheered them on.

Courtesy of University of Idaho

The Idaho Vandals answered the call when Yale needed a pep band.

Yale University and the University of Idaho could not be more different. Ivy League vs. state school. East Coast vs. Pacific Northwest. City vs. farm town. But in the first two rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament, extenuating circumstances brought them together as one, with the Bulldogs and the Vandals becoming the "Vandogs" for a weekend.

When Yale made it to the March Madness tournament, members of the school's pep band had already committed to other travel plans during spring break. They couldn't gather enough members to make the trek across the country to Spokane, Washington, so the Yale Bulldogs were left without their fight song unless other arrangements could be made.

When University of Idaho athletic band director Spencer Martin got wind of the need less than a week before Yale's game against Auburn, he sent out a message to his band members asking if anyone would be interested in stepping in. The response was a wave of immediate yeses, so Martin got to work arranging instruments and the students dedicated themselves to learning Yale's fight song and other traditional Yale pep songs.

Keep ReadingShow less