A couple of weeks ago a man who was standing on the subway lost his balance and fell on my guitar. It was a good reminder of why I go to the trouble of lugging a hard shell case around! (No damage to case or guitar.)

Although Ross says that a gig bag is better is you don't have a car, I find that's it's next to impossible to keep the guitar from getting banged around a little when travelling on crowded buses and subways. And having an instrument in both hands makes it even harder to protect them, thus making the hard cases even more important.

Check this thread for ideas on making hard shell cases easier to live with:Carrying an HSC on your back

Marion