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I live in an affluent town. High average income, mostly expensive suburban housing. We've fully funded a variety of public transit, but that hasn't induced peop

I live in an affluent town. High average income, mostly expensive suburban housing. We've fully funded a variety of public transit, but that hasn't induced people to actually use it. Buses drive around the town all day every day, with useful routes connecting the places studies say public transit should connect... much of the time without a single passenger inside them. My own single-family home is a 2 minute walk from a bus stop, but I've never taken that bus. My car will get me wherever I'm going faster, after all. Did I mention that the buses have been completely free to ride since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic? They still run mostly empty.

PlunderBunny 3y ago
When you’re on a bus, you can do other things while someone else drives you. It’s like getting free time.
- huytersd 3y ago
  Doesn’t make up for the fact that you’re in a shared space and can’t do whatever you want like you can in a car.
  - Gud 3y ago
    What exactly do you want to be doing except driving the vehicle? I live in a country where the public transport is excellent (Switzerland). The US sounds like a nightmare to me.
    - glimshe 3y ago
      Having grown up with excellent public transportation outside the US, I can tell you I'd much rather ride a car than ever enter a bus again. Public transportation is great when it allows me to skip traffic (subway), but buses are just worse versions of cars; in theory I could be reading while in the bus, but in practice there is too much vibration for me to read comfortably. Also, you have to share a seat with a random person, waste time waiting for the bus (and inefficient routes depending on where you're going) and often deal with crowds.
    - huytersd 3y ago
      Turn up the temp, listen to music, stop at a random restaurant or historical site, go car camping on a whim, pick up someone from the airport, buy and get furniture on marketplace, buy a week of groceries for my family, tow my RV etc. It’s an endless list of things and I can’t imagine being hamstrung by walking and using public transport to do things. We have a large country and do way more things than the average European.
      - eesmith 3y ago
        If you are from a country built around cars, then your life has been shaped to want and do the things built around a car, and discount or ignore the things you can't do. When you drive, you can't step into the dining car and grab some lunch and a beer while you catch up on podcasts as the scenery goes passing by, like you can in a long distance train. When you're stuck with a car you can't make day walking trips from village to village, unless you plan to make a circle to get back to your car. Doing something like the Pilgrims’ Way, a 10 day pilgrimage walk from Winchester to Canterbury, is right out. Gud is from Switzerland, where there is no need to pick someone up from the airport because all of the airports have excellent transit connections. I guess you won't visit a random restaurant or historical site in Zermatt, as that's one of the car-free places in Switzerland, and the train you'll take likely won't have the temperature set at the warmth you require. When you're in a place built for cars, you expect stores to be far away, so need to buy in bulk since you only want to shop for a week. When you are on a place built for walking, stores are also in walking distance, and you can easily go every day or two. But even if you don't want that, grocery stores can deliver - friends of mine in the UK got a bulk Tesco delivery every week. For that matter, the last few times we got furniture we paid someone to move it for us - I've never had a car big enough to move more than a couple of chairs or some flat pack box from IKEA. The US has "soccer moms" because their younger teens essentially require a chauffeur to do any after-school activity. For some that idea of being chained to the kids' free time activities is great, to others it's a nightmare. In places with good mass transit, kids have more freedom to travel on their own and be independent. I dunno. It seems like the Europeans I know have done a lot of things. It helps they have 4-6 weeks of vacation time. And Portugal to Norway is quite a long way. And, cars take time. They need to be maintained, you need figure out insurance, if there's something wrong you need to get it fixed, and have backup transportation. You've got to deal with traffic jams, you've got to figure who is the DD for the night if you go out drinking with friends, if you get kids you might have to buy a new car - it's an endless list things.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

PlunderBunny 3y ago

When you’re on a bus, you can do other things while someone else drives you. It’s like getting free time.

huytersd 3y ago
Doesn’t make up for the fact that you’re in a shared space and can’t do whatever you want like you can in a car.
- Gud 3y ago
  What exactly do you want to be doing except driving the vehicle? I live in a country where the public transport is excellent (Switzerland). The US sounds like a nightmare to me.
  - glimshe 3y ago
    Having grown up with excellent public transportation outside the US, I can tell you I'd much rather ride a car than ever enter a bus again. Public transportation is great when it allows me to skip traffic (subway), but buses are just worse versions of cars; in theory I could be reading while in the bus, but in practice there is too much vibration for me to read comfortably. Also, you have to share a seat with a random person, waste time waiting for the bus (and inefficient routes depending on where you're going) and often deal with crowds.
  - huytersd 3y ago
    Turn up the temp, listen to music, stop at a random restaurant or historical site, go car camping on a whim, pick up someone from the airport, buy and get furniture on marketplace, buy a week of groceries for my family, tow my RV etc. It’s an endless list of things and I can’t imagine being hamstrung by walking and using public transport to do things. We have a large country and do way more things than the average European.
    - eesmith 3y ago
      If you are from a country built around cars, then your life has been shaped to want and do the things built around a car, and discount or ignore the things you can't do. When you drive, you can't step into the dining car and grab some lunch and a beer while you catch up on podcasts as the scenery goes passing by, like you can in a long distance train. When you're stuck with a car you can't make day walking trips from village to village, unless you plan to make a circle to get back to your car. Doing something like the Pilgrims’ Way, a 10 day pilgrimage walk from Winchester to Canterbury, is right out. Gud is from Switzerland, where there is no need to pick someone up from the airport because all of the airports have excellent transit connections. I guess you won't visit a random restaurant or historical site in Zermatt, as that's one of the car-free places in Switzerland, and the train you'll take likely won't have the temperature set at the warmth you require. When you're in a place built for cars, you expect stores to be far away, so need to buy in bulk since you only want to shop for a week. When you are on a place built for walking, stores are also in walking distance, and you can easily go every day or two. But even if you don't want that, grocery stores can deliver - friends of mine in the UK got a bulk Tesco delivery every week. For that matter, the last few times we got furniture we paid someone to move it for us - I've never had a car big enough to move more than a couple of chairs or some flat pack box from IKEA. The US has "soccer moms" because their younger teens essentially require a chauffeur to do any after-school activity. For some that idea of being chained to the kids' free time activities is great, to others it's a nightmare. In places with good mass transit, kids have more freedom to travel on their own and be independent. I dunno. It seems like the Europeans I know have done a lot of things. It helps they have 4-6 weeks of vacation time. And Portugal to Norway is quite a long way. And, cars take time. They need to be maintained, you need figure out insurance, if there's something wrong you need to get it fixed, and have backup transportation. You've got to deal with traffic jams, you've got to figure who is the DD for the night if you go out drinking with friends, if you get kids you might have to buy a new car - it's an endless list things.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]