Doing the same distance in a city, compared to the countryside or small towns, always takes longer. Driving is slower (traffic jams, traffic lights, crossings

Doing the same distance in a city, compared to the countryside or small towns, always takes longer. Driving is slower (traffic jams, traffic lights, crossings everywhere...). Public transportation is slower (think train and long/middle distance busses vs local busses and subway and tramway with their stops every few hundred meters). Cycling is slower (same as for cars + the repeated effort of restarting after every slow down or stop + damn paint and gutter plates everywhere that should be avoided or ridden with care). Heck! even walking is slower (pedestrian 'jams' slowing you down, avoiding people, traffic lights, crossings every 50 or 100 meters, cars/trucks parked on sidewalks...). Basically, what's fast and efficient is a point to point transport with 'emptyness' between the nodes. It's not being bogged down on a dense axis or area.