[jcfrei]

I agree. Public transport has to be treated like a network. A network's usefulness increases with the number of connections it can make. A half-assed public transport system will never convince people and if it's done right it's usually very very expensive. Switzerland has excellent public transport, but only because much of it is run by a national, government funded enterprise (SBB) and is considered a matter of national cohesion (hence splurging so much money is accepted by the public).