In London, public transportation is usually faster than driving (except during early morning or late night) for most journeys. You can get close to most places

In London, public transportation is usually faster than driving (except during early morning or late night) for most journeys. You can get close to most places you'd want to go, without needing a car for the last mile. In Beijing, cars are faster for many journeys, and public transportation doesn't quite reach everywhere you'd want to go, without a lot of changes. But the reach and density of public transportation (particularly the subway system) is growing fast. And the last mile is served by ubiquitous shared bikes. In San Francisco, which has a fraction of the population (maybe 10% of London's, and <5% of Beijing's), almost all journeys seem to be faster by car, than they are by public transport. A small section of the city is served by BART but, even then, wait times are a significant proportion of total journey times for short journeys. I prefer to walk, cycle or take public transport, than to drive. But I'll drive if it cuts the journey time in half, which it often does. For example, my son's preschool is 10 mins' drive away. 2 return trips per day is 40 minutes. Switching to Muni (bus) would add an extra 90 minutes each day. Perhaps it's the low population density, perhaps it's lack of funding, perhaps mismanagement. Or perhaps we're stuck in a suboptimal equilibrium in which people don't use public transport for $good_reasons, and the lack of ridership means that improvements cannot be justified.