people who argue for public transport argue for better implementation of it (and also city planning that supports it). the idea isn't for everyone to just stop using cars in favor of public transport even if the public transport system is absolute shit. it's for systemic support of public transport in such a way that commuters would willingly choose it over being stuck in traffic in their little metal boxes for hours.

it's a criticism of the system, not the people.

That's what decades of car centric urban design does to everyone; any transportation other than a car is treated as a second class

They aren't doing that, you are. The apples to apples comparison that they are making is our current transit system; with the cars being fully electrified but otherwise as it exists today; versus a transit system that prioritizes mass transit (and walking and biking) over personal vehicles.

Electric cars are a solution to save the auto industry, not the climate.

that's not a counter argument to better public transportation. That's a supporting argument for public transportation.

It takes about 10 hours to drive 688 miles from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, an actual distance of 580 miles.

For more than double that distance, at 1238 miles, a high-speed train from Hong Kong to Beijing takes 9 hours.

"The US is way too big for trains and public transit to be feasible" is a lousy excuse for poor infrastructure and planning.

Anyone who says stuff like this should be forced to drive 10 hours across the US first.

I am gonna be honest, this is such a lame, US exceptionalism line that people in the US repeat ad nauseam as if it adds anything to the conversation.

Nobody is saying for the couple of people living in North Dakota that they can't keep their truck and drive around everywhere, the transportation needs of people that live in rural places like this are vanishingly small compared to the problem we are talking about here. We are talking about MASS TRANSIT so places that actually have enough people for major industry, and for major movements of people and material that can actually clog transportation networks. Why when people try to have a conversation about the economic centers of the US that actually make this country run do people obsess about the guy living in the middle of nowhere Kansas who can go on happily driving a pickup for the rest of eternity and who has no impact on the places that actually matter in the US in terms of transit?

Nobody lives in most of the US, so no the fact that those parts of the US exist does not make the US uniquely difficult to make mass transit for because "it is too big", you just make the mass transit where the high population density is. Deep red rural government-handout states can continue to be based entirely around cars, great, it really doesn't affect much of the US population because most of the US population doesn't live in those places and don't desire to go to them.

Great now that we have been over this, please never throw this line out lazily again, it adds nothing.

... Have you ever used public transportation in any major city? It is about the only instance in modern age where you are in a vehicle that may be going 50 kph and you are standing. If you are going to be making claims, I would drop that "10x as comfortable" bit.

Comfortable is probably the biggest reason most people don't use public transportation. With their own cars, they don't need to wait, they don't need to worry about whether they are going to be packed like sardines because of the work rush, or forced to even wait for another pass because it got full before they were able to get on, or have to worry about getting cramps from not being able to sit, or having the transit take significantly more because it's not direct, or pickpockets..

About the only comfortable thing about public transport is if you can get on it during off-peak hours when seats are available, in a route that doesn't require a lot transfers, that isn't much longer due to the stops and side-routing, and that doesn't have a high wait time. All the stars have to align.

In comparison, bikes are probably the better option overall, and it would be epic if public transport started incorporating e-bike/scooter transit along with it. Unfortunately it seems to be quite the opposite where I live due to concerns about Lithium battery fires, but hopefully someone somewhere realizes that that is just a standardization issue.

Agree, it's so much nicer.

No stress about searching parking spots, no cursing people driving too fast or slow... and reliable, fast, affordable and comfortable.

Political will is not even the problem; corruption, ie. corporatism and oligarchs are. They stand in the way of a truly public transit friendly society. None of the oligarchs are part of 'us'.

And even if we consider cars,good driving experiences necessitate public transit, bicycle lanes, and walkability!

public transport is just 10x as comfortable as any car could be

Yes, nothing beats walking to a bus stop and waiting there in the cold, rain or burning sun, hoping the bus shows up in time or at all. Then stressing, because it being 15 minutes late probably means your connecting train will be gone. Oh yes, there it goes. Half an hour wait with no place to sit. And then repeat this two more times for more connecting trains and buses.

And I haven't even talked about not being able to sit during train rides, or having to sit on back wrecking seats. Unfortunately I have back issues and after having enjoyed the 'comfort' of our public transport I often end up just not being able to stand or sit anymore at the end of the day because my back hurts so bad.

That is my average commute, and as a bonus there ultimately isn't a difference in price here between taking the car or public transport. To top it off my average travel time is 60 minutes by car, 1.5 - 2 hours by public transport, often depending whether or not the first bus shows up in time.

It would be able to overlook a lot of this if it was feasible to do some work in the train, but with all the fragmentation on my route I never really get anything done.

I really would like to use public transport, as it is more sustainable than my gas guzzler, but each time I try it the experience just sucks so bad.