[aiisjustanif]

How about in European big cities where that is not the case? Prague, London, Prague, Budapest, Zurich, Madrid, Berlin, Vienna…? So many people, especially not particularly poor people, use them to commute every single week. Notoriously, for some of these cities, it is slower to travel by car for your commute.

[joxdosba]

I live in London, temperatures in excess of 30C are frequent on the Tube. If I’m going to or coming from the gym, that’s fine. Otherwise it really isn’t.

The metro in Prague is indeed good, it’s just not a big city.

Zurich also has excellent public transport, but it’s really a village at best.

Madrid has Barcelona beat, but still occasionally suffers from a lack of air conditioning frequently leading to absurd temperatures.

[aiisjustanif]

I also live in London and never specified underground or trains only for any of these cities. Buses also cheap and air conditioned.

Also 2-4 months at best out of the year is not a great argument for public transportation not being the better option compared to cars and parking that don’t scale.

Side note, Elizabeth, District, Circle, Hammersmith & city, and Metropolitan lines where many people work are air conditioned. So are the trains to paddington and St. Pancras from any “village” outside of the London zones. This summer especially it’s been good for me.

[joxdosba]

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a plenty of good public transport in London. I’m just of the opinion that unless you happen to live on a particularly good route, the experience is too inconsistent.

I love the trains, Gatwick express is downright brilliant.

> Also 2-4 months at best out of the year is not a great argument for public transportation not being the better option compared to cars and parking that don’t scale.

Temperatures in packed tube carriages are very high no matter the time of the year, the bodies of the passengers alone put out sufficient heat.

When the AC works, that’s fine. My experience is that it fails far more often than I’m willing to accept.

[inigyou]

TIL Zurich is a village

[joxdosba]

There’s not even half a million people living in Zurich; it is absolutely tiny, which is basically the entirety of its charm.