[oblio]

I said:

> Cars should also be reserved for [...] and various other niche uses.

to which you replied:

> I don't want to spend 6 hours commuting a daily in the UK. I've done this btw in the UK a decade ago. It was miserable.

6 hours per day commuting is 3 hours one way, which in almost every country in the world is called "super commuting" and it affects a very small minority of people:

https://www.jmfassociates.co.uk/news/news/how-long-is-the-av...

-> the average commute is under 30 minutes each way.

-> commutes longer than 2 hours affect only 2% of workers.

So yeah, that's what "niche" means.

Besides that, I literally listed some recommended distances (up to 1km for walking, up to 10-12k for cycling), don't tell me your commute was 3h one way for a distance under 12km? You can walk 12km in less than 3h one way :-)

[WackyFighter]

If you watched the video. The point is that it was something like a 2 and a half hour commute via public transport, it was much shorter while driving. It isn't a "super commute" if you are travelling less than an hour.

A commute in a car that less than an hour isn't niche.

[oblio]

The public transport commute was definitely a super commute, so that's the starting point.

And yeah, that's one of the things to take into account when choosing both a residence and a job.

If you don't have a direct connection (ideally) or very good transfers, yeah, it's going to get ugly quick.

I found a comment on Youtube particularly poignant for this type of problem:

> I worked 7 miles away in Redditch for 18 years, for my sins. The 16 minute journey by car took 45 minutes at rush hour, so I experimented with buses which took an hour and a half, needed two separate tickets from different bus companies, and didn't allow me to do any overtime. I took up cycling and once fit the journey only took 24 minutes.

* * *

Which leads back to my original point: let's all campaign for better public transportion infrastructure, for more dedicated bus lanes, for more bike lanes, for more walkable neighbourhoods, for less car-only infrastructure. Let's give people more options.

Because while there are tons of anecdotes against public transportation, for example, the numbers reveal that it's badly needed and used by millions and millions of people wherever it's available and the coverage and frequency aren't completely unusable. So demand for public transportation is there.

Cars should be there to "plug" the gaps where public transportation, cycling, walking are not valid options. Not be the default as they are in many places.

Let's optimize for 80% of the population first.

Oh, nice side effect: once all those sardines are neatly packed in buses, trams and trains (or on top of bikes) they're no longer on roads so people who do have to use cars have much faster and relaxed commutes.

[WackyFighter]

It seems you really didn't understand the point of the video.

[oblio]

I didn't watch it as it seemed fairly long.

Now I have watched it and he basically says the same thing as me.

A lot of people have to use cars because they have no other option. Yes, let's fix that for them as best we can.

As he puts it, that also leaves more room on the road for the people with the vintage Mustangs.

[WackyFighter]

Right. So you didn't watch it and instead cherry picked the comments. You missed a key thing in the video. It isn't really any cheaper using public transport. BTW my experience was roughly the same as in the video but replace buses with trains.

One of the key reasons I learned to drive was because trains, buses and taxis are expensive and mile per mile more expensive than using the car. Even flying in some circumstances is more expensive and longer than driving (short domestic UK flights).

The issue with public transport is that it doesn't go quite go where, when you want and nothing is going to fix that.

No amount of campaigning is going to change anything. Near where I live there is two roads closed. It been this way for almost three years now. If the council can't fix one road in three years, how are they ever going to sort out more complex issues.

So you have something that isn't cheaper, doesn't quite do what you want and generally is less pleasant than using a car, you aren't going to want to use it.

[oblio]

Yet plenty of people use it.

In many cases public transportation works.

In many cases it doesn't.

Do whatever works best for your personal situation but always demand options because you never know when you'll need them.