[bombcar]

Even famously “mass transit unfriendly” cities can be fit for a car-free lifestyle if you work at it.

But I suspect a huge part of it is visiting Europe or Asia as a tourist and enjoying being without a car.

But they didn’t actually live there.

[NumberWangMan]

For one data point: I lived in London without a car for several years, and enjoyed it. A lot of people do. One big thing you give up in car-dependent areas is interesting walks. Everything is super-sized to accommodate vehicles, and at a human scale, it's boring. In an older city designed for people, every 10 feet there's something new to catch your eye.

There are tradeoffs, but I much preferred being able to take the train or bus and relax and zone out rather than have spend the entire trip in the vigilant state you need while driving. And while cycling, yes, you have to be vigilant, but you're getting exercise too.

I'm at a point in my life where, I probably don't want to live in the big city as much. (Funnily enough, when I was much younger I never thought I would want to.) But anyway, I'd still much prefer to live in a denser, more walkable suburb, which tend to be unfortunately hard to find and expensive in the US for reasons that are probably already all discussed in comments in this thread.

[BurningFrog]

> I suspect a huge part of it is visiting Europe or Asia as a tourist and enjoying being without a car.

Agreed.

As a tourist you also tend to visit the historic center of capital cities, which have by far the best public transport and fanciest architecture.

Plus you're on vacation and having fun.

When you live there and walk to your commuter train a gray november morning, it's a very different experience.

[NumberWangMan]

> When you live there and walk to your commuter train a gray november morning, it's a very different experience.

Still preferable, to me at least! Getting in to work and shucking off your mist-covered coat and making a nice cup of tea made it just fine.

[schrijver]

Having taken commuter trains on gray November Euro-mornings, I still prefer them to cars for commuting. Sitting in a traffic jam on a gray November Euro-morning is more depressing to me. But you’re right, I live in the center of a city. I can get by without a car just fine. On the country side this is not really an option. Whether the suburbs are well connected depends on where you are. In the end, plenty of people still commute by car, it’s just that there’s a sizeable proportion that doesn’t and it changes the feel of public space (and your own sense of options).

[Macha]

> But I suspect a huge part of it is visiting Europe or Asia as a tourist and enjoying being without a car.

I live in Dublin. I'd rank it as pretty middling in transport by European standards. We have a decent bus network, commuter rail to the suburbs, trams that are frequent but overcrowded at rush hour, and intercity trains to the other cities in the country.

I've been here nearly a decade and have no great rush to buy a car. And there's still obvious improvement to be made. The red line needs a relief line unless work from home makes the expanse of new offices at the end of the line mostly empty, cycling lane coverage is spotty and often conflicting with buses or parking, and bike parking is lacking.

[BrianHenryIE]

> Even famously “mass transit unfriendly” cities can be fit for a car-free lifestyle if you work at it.

I think it's such a pervasive meme that the US is bad for transit that people don't even try. I don't ever use cars (like twice in 450 days) AND I live beside one of the major transport hubs in my city (65/Folsom in Sacramento), yet I don't know where or when buses could bring me.

There is a dearth in communication.

I was in Orlando last week and the buses were great, and empty.

[0x0nyandesu]

Even my relatives in Germany who live in a very public transport friendly city still own two cars.