| > Commuter rail systems address this Sure, but using public transport is a heavy trade-off in time. Where I am now, at peak hour a train (to my chosen destination) arrives every 15m. The bus/shuttle to the nearest station arrives as often as they can, which can be between 10m and 15m. My last trip (from suburbs to a CBD +-20km away) during peak hour involved 30m total of waiting for the next shuttle/bus/train. That's 30m without the actual time in transit (on the train its quite fast - about 10m transit. On the bus, it is not, about 15m transit because it has many stops to make). The next day I drove instead, and took a total of 30m to get to my destination. Commuter transit systems work wonderfully for people who want to do things during transit but otherwise have no other use of their time. For me, and a lot of people who opted to live in child-friend homes in child-friendly suburbs, an extra 60m-90m spent in transit is 60m-90m of time we lost with our family. I don't care that I can read during that time; I can always simply read after my kid has gone to bed after all. I care that I get to spend those few extra hours per day with my kid. |
This is before pointing out that while there are daycares, there are grocery stores, there are restaurants available easily by the bus or by bike, there are far more options readily available by car and maybe its not fun carrying a week's worth of food for a family with me on the bus. And then there are people I like to visit who don't live near public transit, so choosing to go without a car means I wouldn't be able to visit them regularly.
Owning and operating a car is definitely expensive. I could technically live my life without a car, its entirely feasible from my location. However the time, ease, and freedom tradeoffs make car ownership still make sense for me. I still ultimately prioritized living in an area with decent mass transit and love to take it when it makes sense. I know people who do rely on the public transit for every day transportation, and I'm happy they're able to visit me easily and I'm perfectly fine with subsidizing it.
EDIT: I just looked up a normal trip I take on Google Maps to double check transit times in comparison to driving. 10 minute drive. 30 minute bike ride. 1 hour bus trip. Another common trip: 10 minute drive, 30 minute bike ride, 30 minute bus ride. Even for the shorter one, that's 40 minutes round-trip not counting on waiting for the bus for a trip I normally do weekly. That's about 33 hours a year of extra waiting for just that one route.