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I thought that assumption throughout the article strange, too. A factor no one else seems to have mentioned (which admittedly only applies to transport, not hou

by ZoFreX 14y ago

I thought that assumption throughout the article strange, too. A factor no one else seems to have mentioned (which admittedly only applies to transport, not housing) is that public transport is, overall, getting better. In London I have an Oyster card which actually gets me all the way to my dad's house too, even though he lives well outside London. Something like this just would not have been possible in the 90s, and now I can check how much money is on my Oyster from my phone, and see live train and bus (!) times on it as well. Not to mention that having tools like Google Maps makes using public transport in an unfamiliar city a doddle, I just punch in a postcode and it tells me which bus to get on, and which stop to get off at.

goatforce5 14y ago
Although Londoners complain about their public transport, it really is exceptionally good. For many routes within London it's quicker and far cheaper to take public transport (or a bike!) than to use a private vehicle. Most places aren't like that, unfortunately.
- JonnieCache 14y ago
  It is awful by comparison to many continental cities though. Have you used the U-bahn in berlin? It's so clean, so efficient, so cheap! That's what we get for inventing this stuff I suppose...
- ZoFreX 14y ago
  While I would say that London's public transport is good (not exceptionally good, Germany, Switzerland and Japan are exceptionally good, London is merely good), I think: > For many routes within London it's quicker and far cheaper to take public transport (or a bike!) than to use a private vehicle. Is a rather poor way to look at it in the context of London, because walking is often quicker than using a private vehicle here!
kapitalx 14y ago
Public transportation in America might as well be non-existent, and American suburbs which is where the largest portion of the country lives in, are un-walkable. You can't do anything if you don't have a car. I think this isn't clear to people who live in the few very large cities in the US, or live elsewhere in the word where public transportation does a good job of getting you around in a timely manner. To give you an example, I live in San Jose area. To get to downtown san jose, it'll take me less than 10 minutes in a car on the high way, 45 minutes on the bike through the streets, or 1.5 hours on the bus.

by ZoFreX 14y ago

goatforce5 14y ago

Although Londoners complain about their public transport, it really is exceptionally good. For many routes within London it's quicker and far cheaper to take public transport (or a bike!) than to use a private vehicle. Most places aren't like that, unfortunately.

JonnieCache 14y ago
It is awful by comparison to many continental cities though. Have you used the U-bahn in berlin? It's so clean, so efficient, so cheap! That's what we get for inventing this stuff I suppose...
ZoFreX 14y ago
While I would say that London's public transport is good (not exceptionally good, Germany, Switzerland and Japan are exceptionally good, London is merely good), I think: > For many routes within London it's quicker and far cheaper to take public transport (or a bike!) than to use a private vehicle. Is a rather poor way to look at it in the context of London, because walking is often quicker than using a private vehicle here!

kapitalx 14y ago

Public transportation in America might as well be non-existent, and American suburbs which is where the largest portion of the country lives in, are un-walkable. You can't do anything if you don't have a car. I think this isn't clear to people who live in the few very large cities in the US, or live elsewhere in the word where public transportation does a good job of getting you around in a timely manner. To give you an example, I live in San Jose area. To get to downtown san jose, it'll take me less than 10 minutes in a car on the high way, 45 minutes on the bike through the streets, or 1.5 hours on the bus.