[yardie]

So much of this. Public transit has to be a better alternative to driving a car. Time is the biggest factor to getting people to use it. I used to take the express bus into my office in the city. Since they had dedicated lanes it took me the same amount of time, all for $2.75. Driving is $10+ in tolls, $20 in parking, and fuel.

My coworkers thought I was crazy taking the bus thinking it was full of homeless. It was mostly lawyers, judges, jurists going to the federal court as well as medical staff at the nearby hospital. Based on the designer suits alone I can guarantee almost everyone had a European car or large body SUV sitting at home.

Free is a good start but if it still takes 2+ hours to get to a $15/hr job it's still a bad deal.