Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[Honbushu]

I basically agree. I've been to the States twice. Each time I didn't have a car and I took a city bus. San Diego and Virginia City. They are not bus minded. Very weird experience. I ended up walking miles.

Having said that, i just bought the three story Harry Potter bus. I'm curious about the three brick wide windows.

 

[Carefree_Dude]

I feel having something with one of those really long double length articulated transit bus would be nice. The big turntable in the middle would make for an interesting build as well. You add on a bunch of various minifigs, even include the fold up seats for a wheel chair, even have a deployable wheelchair ramp. 

Living in the city bike commuting is also a good option, but doing it in winter can be really rough. 

 

I've lived and visited many places in the united states. Many of the cities do have terrible transit systems, but the ones that really badly need the transit system don't do too horribly. 

[The Brick Boss]

31 minutes ago, Carefree_Dude said:

I feel having something with one of those really long double length articulated transit bus would be nice.

A friend of mine from Facebook made these. This is where my inspiration for ideas for a transit subtheme for City came from. 

• 60276 Driver Training (includes the minibus)
• 60277 Articulated Bus (includes the articulated bus) 
• 60278 Bus Terminal (includes the shuttle bus) 
• 60279 Cycle N Ride (a re-release of 60154) 

[koalayummies]

2 hours ago, Carefree_Dude said:

 

I disagree with this; I live in a major US city, and the public transit (Bus, light rail, etc) are much faster than attempting to drive into downtown and find parking, as well as paying a lot of money for it. It's nice to just relax and play on my phone or read while the bus takes me to work. Sure, occasionally there are mentally ill and homeless people doing things like threatening you or having a wank, but overall taking a bus is a much better option than driving even for those who can afford to drive. 

 

2 hours ago, pooda said:

LOL! If you live in places like New York City, Washington DC (which is where I live) or Chicago, your best bet is to take public transportation. Especially if you want to evade traffic or pay really high parking fees. So with that being said, the transit system is a civilian service that is just as essential to city life as much as a cop, a firefighter a doctor or any other major job that is showcased properly in any Lego town-related theme. 

Haha hooray for buses and anecdotes.

In the second largest city in the US, a city with the 5th largest economy in the world you can't pry people out of their cars to take the bus. They'll gladly sit in traffic to not have to deal with those aspects of bus riding (and you're only scratching the surface there). The LA Metro ridership statistics back this up, people don't want to ride the bus even though sure it can be easier (except for that whole last mile problem), lower carbon footprint and less expensive than vehicle ownership, operation and maintenance provided you don't get stabbed while waiting for it or riding. Talking enjoyment and what people think and actually do (or can afford to do), you might anecdotally prefer it, but the statistics for entire US cities say otherwise.

Lego just had a city bus set so that wraps that up nicely. We'll see another urine covered heroin needle filled body odor soaked meth cloud permeated bus that only gets you to within 2.3 miles of your destination in the rain and snow 15 minutes late in another couple of years.

Until then I wager most would welcome a police station, school, museum, post office, tailor, courthouse modular way more than an expansive concrete roundabout bus depot modular.

Edited December 10, 2019 by koalayummies

[The Brick Boss]

@koalayummies That's because LA's system isn't as big as you think. 

Look at some other type of statistic. New York City and Washington DC have the two biggest and busiest transit systems across the country. I know because I work for the transit system in DC. I drive one of their buses for Pete's sake. Even so, you don't even really have to work for the system to know this. 

I think the transit industry is more popular than you think. ESPECIALLY in the US and in Europe where Lego is made. 

Edited December 10, 2019 by pooda

[jonwil]

Here in Australia buses are seen as an everyday part of life and people of all sorts take the bus for all sorts of reasons (and none of the problems commonly stereotyped with buses in other places like the stench of pee or people stealing your wallet or whatever apply to buses I have been on in Australia)

 

[The Brick Boss]

@jonwil Yup! I'm also a bus driver for the Washington DC transit (known as WMATA) and I've been to several elementary schools across the area for both career day and safety events. Children look up to us as everyday heroes just as they do with cops, firefighters, medics, construction workers, etc. People act like we do this line of work just to make extra money or as a sick joke. No! We do it because it's our passion. 

No excuses Lego. You need to put a modular bus terminal and a public transit subtheme for City in your plans. 

@koalayummies So in future, try to know the people who both work for or rely on the system before making your own narrow minded assumptions about the transit industry. 

Edited December 10, 2019 by pooda

[Carefree_Dude]

I do legitimately wish public transit was cleaner and safer. That won't happen unless the homeless crisis is figured out though. 

[The Brick Boss]

3 hours ago, Carefree_Dude said:

I do legitimately wish public transit was cleaner and safer. That won't happen unless the homeless crisis is figured out though. 

That doesn't happen on the system I work for....and if it does, the transit police know how to handle them. 

[koalayummies]

4 hours ago, pooda said:

 

@koalayummies So in future, try to know the people who both work for or rely on the system before making your own narrow minded assumptions about the transit industry. 

The guy who's been directly quoted by a moderator saying they were just "pushing guy's buttons for fun". Shocking response there. What assumptions?

Lets compare the various suggestions.

Seaching this thread for the word "Bus" (not even depot or stations thus expanding the results as wide as possible) has 3 pages of mentions. Half of them relating to the Pop Up Party bus and London bus sets, and a bulk are related to the last two pages of discussion (about a third of the mentions of the word "bus" are just from you alone).

"Post office" has 28 pages of results.

"Police Station" has 27 pages of results.

"Museum" has 11 pages of results.

"School" has 6 pages of results.

So my assumption that a post office, police station, museum or school would be preferable to a bus station appear correct based on the discussion.

Americans Are Abandoning Public Transit—but Don't Blame Uber

Why Are Fewer People Riding Public Transportation? It’s Because Bus Service Sucks

2018 Was the Year of the Car, and Transit Ridership Felt It

Falling transit ridership poses an ‘emergency’ for cities, experts fear

L.A. is hemorrhaging bus riders — worsening traffic and hurting climate goals

Ridership on Metro fell to the lowest level in more than a decade last year

[meliander]

@koalayummies I've lived in SD and been to LA a lot. I live in Boston now. You are really judging the situation with buses from the Californian point of view. It's different here on the east coast, believe me. Buses are a huge thing here and public transportation as a whole. There are normal people riding buses to and from work every day, watching movies, reading books, playing videogames. Because there is just so little parking in the city, and winters could be a nightmare to find a spot. And parking is also insanely expensive. Don't compare this to the sprawling LA with its numerous parking lots and highways running across the city - it's just different. Yes, sometimes you can see a shady person on the bus, but it's not near as close to what public transit in California represents. And then again, Lego is not about the USA only. There are lots of countries in the world where Lego is popular and where public transit is big.

As for the modular subject being the bus or train terminal (especially train terminal, because I think it's kind of closer to the modular vibe) - I don't see why not. It certainly won't be something huge like Port Authority Bus Terminal in NY, but neither of the modulars are really big or realistic scale - they are actually pretty small and cramped inside.

[The Brick Boss]

20 minutes ago, meliander said:

As for the modular subject being the bus or train terminal (especially train terminal, because I think it's kind of closer to the modular vibe) - I don't see why not. It certainly won't be something huge like Port Authority Bus Terminal in NY, but neither of the modulars are really big or realistic scale - they are actually pretty small and cramped inside.

Yeah. They could always put the the ticket booths outside. 

20 minutes ago, meliander said:

There are lots of countries in the world where Lego is popular and where public transit is big.

Yeah. Like in the UK. 

Edited December 11, 2019 by pooda

[koalayummies]

42 minutes ago, meliander said:

@koalayummies I've lived in SD and been to LA a lot. I live in Boston now. You are really judging the situation with buses from the Californian point of view. It's different here on the east coast, believe me. Buses are a huge thing here and public transportation as a whole. There are normal people riding buses to and from work every day, watching movies, reading books, playing videogames. Because there is just so little parking in the city, and winters could be a nightmare to find a spot. And parking is also insanely expensive. Don't compare this to the sprawling LA with its numerous parking lots and highways running across the city - it's just different. Yes, sometimes you can see a shady person on the bus, but it's not near as close to what public transit in California represents. And then again, Lego is not about the USA only. There are lots of countries in the world where Lego is popular and where public transit is big.

Thanks for jumping in with a much needed additional anecdotal observation. Everyone you see riding a bus absolutely loves it, you have convinced me now I was so wrong. Thank you. Just like the Department of Motor Vehicles. 225 million licensed drivers in the US, wow they must love going to the DMV. That's irrefutable. Every last one of them loves it because they all use it.

Next modular: DMV.

Edited December 11, 2019 by koalayummies

[Vindicare]

1 hour ago, meliander said:

As for the modular subject being the bus or train terminal (especially train terminal, because I think it's kind of closer to the modular vibe) - I don't see why not. It certainly won't be something huge like Port Authority Bus Terminal in NY, but neither of the modulars are really big or realistic scale - they are actually pretty small and cramped inside.

I don’t see how a train terminal would fit. Considering they market it showing them attached to each other(or across a lane) where would train track fit in all that? Now, I suppose they could take a turn & make it a stand alone building. A bus terminal would be easier to make fit. 

Edited December 11, 2019 by Vindicare

[meliander]

36 minutes ago, koalayummies said:

Thanks for jumping in with a much needed additional anecdotal observation. Everyone you see riding a bus absolutely loves it, you have convinced me now I was so wrong. Thank you. Just like the Department of Motor Vehicles. 225 million licensed drivers in the US, wow they must love going to the DMV. That's irrefutable. Every last one of them loves it because they all use it.

You don't have to talk in a provocative tone to make your point, with people you don't know and never met, even if it's tempting to do so in the heat of the discussion. I agree, that some people don't like buses. But a lot of people in different parts of the world like them and hate sitting in traffic when they commute to work. It doesn't mean they don't own a car by the way.

12 minutes ago, Vindicare said:

I don’t see how a train terminal would fit. Considering they market it showing them attached to each other(or across a lane) where would train track fit in all that? Now, I suppose they could take a turn & make it a stand alone building. A bus terminal would be easier to make fit. 

You are right about the tracks. Fitting them with the rest of the buildings would be tough.

[koalayummies]

3 minutes ago, meliander said:

You don't have to talk in a provocative tone to make your point, with people you don't know and never met, even if it's tempting to do so in the heat of the discussion. I agree, that some people don't like buses. But a lot of people in different parts of the world like them and hate sitting in traffic when they commute to work. It doesn't mean they don't own a car by the way.

That was the logic that was being employed. Its big, lots of people use it, normal people use it, watching movies while they use it, playing videogames while they use it. They drive a bus, they see lots of people riding the bus, people take it to work. I wasn't disputing that buses are used.

People use it therefore they like it was the thesis being promoted. That its a flawed conclusion is what was being demonstrated. That logic was the basis for several responses since the previous page.

However as demonstrated above based on mentions in this thread buses are mentioned a fraction as much as the other discussed building subjects. Therefore it is not as desired a subject matter as the others, was my conjecture.

[jonahtron]

Anyways...

Looks like I was just as dead wrong as everyone else about LEGO continuing the 1950s theme, as they seem to have scrapped the idea that Jamie once mentioned of the next decade of modulars moving forward in time. 

just thought id point out that Today LEGO are meant to release the news of which vehicle is the winning modular. I feel fairly certain it'll be some sort of truck, perhaps one that can deliver ALL THE MISSING BOOKS 

[imvanya]

1 hour ago, jonahtron said:

just thought id point out that Today LEGO are meant to release the news of which vehicle is the winning modular. I feel fairly certain it'll be some sort of truck, perhaps one that can deliver ALL THE MISSING BOOKS 

https://ideas.lego.com/blogs/a4ae09b6-0d4c-4307-9da8-3ee9f3d368d6/post/bd37c50e-cead-44ce-8a6f-5c15c0967915 Looks like it is not a truck:

Objectively, one of the strongest entries, so the Grand Prize is well deserved.

Edited December 11, 2019 by imvanya

[jonahtron]

56 minutes ago, imvanya said:

https://ideas.lego.com/blogs/a4ae09b6-0d4c-4307-9da8-3ee9f3d368d6/post/bd37c50e-cead-44ce-8a6f-5c15c0967915 Looks like it is not a truck:

 

Objectively, one of the strongest entries, so the Grand Prize is well deserved.

Totally agree. Makes you wonder if LEGO would consider full on chrome pieces, or if this will just be made with white and the pearly silver colour. Maybe this will be out within 6 months if we're lucky... Modulars are my only expensive buy, so will have to wait a while to get the new BS for this to come as the gift.

[Lucarex]

9 hours ago, meliander said:

And then again, Lego is not about the USA only. There are lots of countries in the world where Lego is popular and where public transit is big.

9 hours ago, pooda said:

Yeah. Like in the UK. 

@pooda Says someone who hasn’t been obviously. You couldn’t be more wrong...

Public transport in the UK is possibly the worst example you could have used. The entire dystopian infrastructure is constantly at crumbling point, the buses and trains are unreliable, late, prone to adverse weather, filthy, overcrowded and expensive. It’s not for no reason the roads are gridlocked as it’s still the preferable option for the vast majority of the car-loving nation. It’s much more akin to @koalayummies view of of LA transit than your (understandably) rose-tinted experience of happy clappy bus driving around DC.

Now, places like Switzerland, Netherlands, Japan...yes, they have excellent public transport. 

 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2019 by Lucarex

[Options]

Wow! A DMV modular would be great!  I could take the hundreds of lonely, living in a plastic bag mini-figs and line them up around the building waiting...waiting...and waiting.  A Lego printed clock piece would be great as the hands never move.

BTW, I only collect modulars. City sets are irrelevant to me.  I’m still waiting for a police station, hospital or school.  Maybe next year?  Or, will I have to spend a grand on one of the eBay MOCs?

[The Brick Boss]

@Lucarex And who the heck might you be, Mr? 

[LucyCol]

On 12/10/2019 at 2:45 PM, LucyCol said:

It's never too early 

Didn't realise my little off the cuff comment was going raise so much angst amongst members over the state of various public transport systems

PS, I live in an area of the UK where buses are well liked, clean, reliable and for the most part on time 

Now can we get back on track discussing what we'ed like to see in next years modular?

 

Edited December 11, 2019 by LucyCol

[Options]

2 minutes ago, LucyCol said:

Didn't realise my little off the cuff comment was going raise so much angst amongst members over the state of various public transport systems

PS, I live in an area of the UK where buses are well liked, clean, reliable and for the most part on time 

Now can we get back on track discussing what weed like to see in next years modular?

 

Agreed.  I don’t know anything about buses.  Find me one that goes from 0-60 as quickly as my S series Audi, and I’ll give it a try.

[CSW652]

So any guesses on what type of building that winning car would go with?

I would have attached a picture, but it says I can only have a max total size of 0.03MB.  So how do you clear that or add more space?