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About 11 years ago I road some rush hour subways in China for a couple weeks while working in an office out there for a project. It was clean, people were quie

About 11 years ago I road some rush hour subways in China for a couple weeks while working in an office out there for a project. It was clean, people were quiet, all the sort of "crime" or "etiquette" concerns seemed addressed from my POV. It was still terrible because it was crowded as hell and we were packed in and standing up for 20-40 minutes. From talking to locals, people's commute time tolerance still stretched out and with cost of living and demand and all that, it was no "just take a jaunty 5 minute walk to work" paradise compared to the US. Maybe that 40 min standing is better for my long-term posture and joint health than sitting in a car? But it would still be a really really really hard sell.

coderenegade 3y ago
Yeah, this. I've done the Asian subway commute thing, and it's pretty crap. Tolerable, but only because using a car in those places is mostly untenable. It's even worse in western countries, because we don't have the commitment to rock-solid subway schedules that places like Japan and Korea do. Here we get poorly planned maintenance works, and commute times that can balloon out by hours because you're taking replacement buses. That's before we get into factors like assaults and harassment. I will never use public transport for commuting in my home country again. I got a car at the onset of COVID, and I'm not going back. As for the suggestion of using bikes, well... I grew up the monsoon zone. Good luck convincing people that a bike will fit their needs for the 5 months of the year when it's raining. People honestly forget what a miracle cars are. They're not perfect, but they're reliable, they get the job done, and there's a car that can meet just about anybody's needs. Even if you made an e-bike with some kind of weather protection, I'd be willing to bet that at some point, you just end up with a downsized car. Bikes just aren't the universal workhorses that cars are.

coderenegade 3y ago

Yeah, this. I've done the Asian subway commute thing, and it's pretty crap. Tolerable, but only because using a car in those places is mostly untenable. It's even worse in western countries, because we don't have the commitment to rock-solid subway schedules that places like Japan and Korea do. Here we get poorly planned maintenance works, and commute times that can balloon out by hours because you're taking replacement buses. That's before we get into factors like assaults and harassment. I will never use public transport for commuting in my home country again. I got a car at the onset of COVID, and I'm not going back. As for the suggestion of using bikes, well... I grew up the monsoon zone. Good luck convincing people that a bike will fit their needs for the 5 months of the year when it's raining. People honestly forget what a miracle cars are. They're not perfect, but they're reliable, they get the job done, and there's a car that can meet just about anybody's needs. Even if you made an e-bike with some kind of weather protection, I'd be willing to bet that at some point, you just end up with a downsized car. Bikes just aren't the universal workhorses that cars are.