No Stupid Questions

In the US, public transit is almost universally unavailable. If it is available, it's a massive luxury (or strictly necessary, like NYC).

Hopefully there will be a Lemmy equivalent to r/fuckcars and r/YIMBY soon enough.

We can't sensibly talk about people's preferences without talking about the environment in which those preferences arise.

Here are some things that are true for most car drivers:

• The road starts right at your house. You don't have to go anywhere to get on it.
• Your car is right at your house whenever you want to use it. You never have to wait for it.
• Public transit requires that you pay up-front; the costs of using your car only bother you occasionally (e.g. fueling, maintenance, taxes that pay for roads).
• Businesses you want to visit are often required by law to provide parking for cars as part of commercial zoning.
• Cars are the dominant vehicle on the road; other vehicles such as bicycles, motorcycles, and scooters are in many ways treated as second-class citizens.
• Your employer didn't choose to locate close to transit, but they did build a parking lot.

Well it depends on where you live... Someone in Los Angeles can't rely on public transportation.

My dad drove a car to work everyday for the last 35 years while he could have driven the same distance with bicycle in 10 minutes. I have not been behind the wheel since I got my driver's license. I guess some people just love cars

I live 5 miles out from the city im WV. I would need to walk/bike up and down hills for 2 miles at a minimum just to get to a local transit stop.

In the US, the state of public transit outside of a handful of (very expensive) cities is significantly slower and less reliable than taking a car. I would pin the reason for this on the shift of people outside of urban areas into suburban ones, and the lobbying power of the automotive industry to convince the government and citizens alike that cars were the right choice.

If public transit is the fastest option in the area, people do choose to take it! That's the case for me too in the past couple of cities I've lived in. But most cities have a long way to go before they get there.

Aside from just talking about this from a convenience angle, a message that might help explain the issues with car dependency is how much more it costs! People that are more hesitant about public services might be easier to convince with a cost-based argument. This is a great video explaining the actual cost of car ownership.

1. Public transport is being actively sabotaged.
2. Car culture. It's a status symbol, a symbol of freedom, a masculinity enhancer, etc.
3. Lots of places are built around cars.

There is a substantial YouTube library of breakdowns on why we (usually North Americans) continually choose cars.

https://youtu.be/-cjfTG8DbwA

https://youtu.be/j4s9WDDRE2A

https://youtu.be/V3yXSD2O95E

https://youtu.be/n94-_yE4IeU

There are so many.

If you live anywhere outside of the inner city, public transport gets slow really quick.

The biggest reason is my local public transportation. I live near a large city in northern West Virginia. The only bus that comes close to my address runs twice a day. Once at 7am and then again at 5pm. On top of that it would be a 20 minute walk, 10 minute bike ride, or 5 minute car ride to the bus stop. If I had to I could make it work but I can't get groceries after work because I would miss the last bus by the time I got off work and finished my shopping. This means I would have to go out on Saturday at 7am and do my shopping and then catch the bus back at 5. Add on top of that having two kids and it's just impossible. Unfortunately a lot of the US is like this. I wouldn't mind if I had to pay more and my local government put more effort into public transit but that seems to be low on their list of priorities.

I will say that electric bikes and self driving cars in the future may change everything for the better.

I'd guess because for a lot of us in the USA, public transportation is insufficient to meet our needs. I'd love to take a train from home to work, but there's no train line that's anywhere near my house. They're building one that'll go near my work, but it's not done yet. Busses are available, I suppose...but the time it'd take to get from home to work or back would be a lot longer than driving takes, even in heavy traffic, given that I'd have to transfer several times.

For longer trips, again, the infrastructure just isn't there. To visit my sister, for instance, requires taking a bus if I want to take the public transportation option. My (step)son takes the bus to go see his dad (who lives in the same city as my sister) since he doesn't like driving, and it takes a good 2 extra hours compared to driving. We should have train service, but no...Scott Fucking Walker killed the project back in 2010 when he got elected governor of Wisconsin.

Speaking from a US standpoint, the public transit sucks. The main issue where I'm at is lack of bus stops, and the bus is never on time. I'd have to walk down a highway (not interstate) to get to the bus stop, then it might not even arrive on time.

Cars are faster, most of the time. However, they still suck. Traffic in dense areas is heavy at almost all times of day where anyone is active. It's really a failure on the US government why people dont take public transit as much.

I think most covered it all why they use a car.

I just want to add that it all depends on where you live. I don't know what you mean by "most". I would say most in cities with good bike lanes like Paris and Amsterdam would say most take the bike, or cities with great public transport like Tokyo would say most take public transport. If you live in a place like USA where it is dangerous to walk and the public transport is almost none existing then most would take the car. I think New York has ok public transport. But I don't know, when I was there were sandy coming in so all of the subways were closed off.

I live in San Francisco, so decent public transportation. But even then, it doesn't run 24 hours. If you want late night fast food, unless you live in NYC, you either need a car or get to pay absurd prices for door dash to deliver cold food.

A car is superior in almost every way where I live.

-Cars are faster. They don't have to stop to pick up and drop off other passengers.

-Cars operate on your schedule. They leave when you leave.

-Cars take you directly to your final destination. No transfers.

-Cars can take you anywhere. Want to take a road trip, you can.

-Cars take cargo. On transit, you can only take what you can carry or can fit in a cart (if a cart is accepted and will fit).

-Cars allow you to set up for your comfort. You control climate control, you control the radio. You can even adjust the seat for comfort.

@clueless_stoner I think if you live in the US. You don't have a choice. US kinda shot itself on the foot when they invested in car infrastructure instead of improving/sustaining their public transport back in 1900s. Now it impossible to get around the US without a car. And we keep consistently screwing over any attempts of a decent public transport infrastructure

Public transportation (the buses at least) takes twice as long as a bicycle where I live and bicycling takes twice as long as a car. That's it, that's why I still drive a car. Also it's really difficult to move my kid and her stuff 10 miles to school.

Speaking as someone who lives in the US, the reason why people “prefer” it is because it’s embedded into the culture that public transportation is for poor people- temporarily embarrassed millionaires and all that. And the reason for that cultural programming is because auto manufacturers and airlines have consistently lobbied against any improvements to public transportation from the very beginning, and even had a hand in specifically designing cities to require cars. China has bullet trains that could get us safely and comfortably from one side of the country to the other in 4 hours. Most EU countries have safe, cheap, accessible public transportation that EVERYONE uses.

At the end of the day, it’s just another capitalist ploy.

I've long been calling cars the Swiss army knifes of transportation. Those knives objectively suck for most usecases. Sure, there is a little saw on there, but you're not going to cut a tree with it. Similarly most dedicated tools will be better than their eqivalent on the multitool. But that's not the point of a Swiss army knife. The little red tool is everything at once, removing the need to decide what to bring.

Cars work in similar ways. They are inefficient, loud and bad for everybody's health, including the planets. But they are also your all in one. Want to haul stuff? Cars. It's raining and you don't want to get wet? Cars. And so on and so forth. Each of this usecases has better alternatives (public transport, cargo bike etc) but none of these serve all usecases at once.

The car therefore promotes intellectual laziness. Driving a car means not having to think about the best way, because the car always provides a way. And city design often helps with that. The extreme is North America, but other places are not free from this.

Public transport rarely being door to door adds to this. You have to actually think about where the stations are in relation to your destination. Searching for parking is similar but people frequently don't think of it as being part of the driving experience.

And then there are additional reasons, that are less stupid. I've been told, that some people for example that some people don't feel save taking transit, especially those of minorities. The car provides a level of isolation.

Also social stigma (I would classify that reason as stupid though)

In the US and my city unfortunately public transit takes some time. My local transit system has had a hard time keeping up with maintenance of their E-hybrid busses and has busses out of service more often than not. This causes many trips to be overwhelmed with double the amount of people they would usually take.

In addition to lack luster infrastructure, you can experience safety concerns with some members of the public. I was personally followed all the way to my old job once and had to tell my manager "A crazy man followed me here, if he comes in the store call the police because I will remove him"

Despite these downfalls public transit becomes much more useful when combined with a bicycle. I can take the bus to the shops and ride back because most of the return trip is downhill.

When I owned a car I would often choose the bus with bike over my own car because then I wouldn't have to worry about parking.

In my city, it's not out of the ordinary to look upwards of 40 minutes for a spot. I used to have to park 20 minutes away in the hills then skate back. Otherwise I'd be doing laps around my neighborhood trying to find ANY legal parking.

I can definitely understand why some members of the public prefer cars over public transit just for safety.

I'm not a little guy by any means, I'm 190 pounds of muscle and have some facial scarring. I've been described as "scary" and "You look like the devil" but I have had a number of run ins that made me fear for my safety.

If I was a 4"5 mom I would almost exclusively drive.

Because public transport is not available (and reliable) enough for me.

If you want to fly across the country you will pay about the same price as it is to drive for one person but arrive days earlier. If you take your spouse the flight just doubled in price but the car ride has stayed the same price. Take two kids or any friends and the flight price has quadrupled but the car ride is still the same price. Once you’re at your location if you flew you are now in a new city with all your luggage but no transportation. If you drove you are in charge door to door. Trying to get groceries for a family in any city in the U.S. and it’s way to long of a trip to do it daily and impractical to take a weeks worth of groceries on the bus. Outside of maybe New York City public transportation is a single man’s game.

1. Music
2. The people (not everyone of course but you know what type of people I mean)

Because i may need to be across town with 5 minutes notice

Because our light rail transit system can't handle snow, or rain, or heat

Because I like freedom

Because it's extremely unreliable. (Bus comes at 2, never shows until 2:20 and it's full so it skips the stop)

Sticky floors and seats, drug addicts, random fights, etc...

1. Because I live in the United States where public transportation sucks. Although where I live, Portland, it is amongst one of the better cities.
2. I have a kid that I need to drop off at daycare, school, various activities and having my own car is far more convenient for that than public transportation.
3. And related to point 2., I don’t have time to rely on and follow a bus schedule.

I live in a very small city in the USA. You aren’t going anywhere without a car. Lots of rural communities surround us and you have to drive past corn fields. A car is a necessity in a place like this.

Are you confused as to why people would prefer to be in charge of their own transportation and set their own schedule instead of being at the whims of whatever forces that might cause buses & trains to be delayed, cancelled, rerouted, full, etc.?

Public transit being the faster option is extremely rare in the US. On top of the speed, there's the flexibility of knowing that you can leave at any moment and go directly to your destination without any transfers or unnecessary detours, whereas public transit often has limited hours and infrequent service.

Brainwashing and the fact that i have literally no other choice besides a car where i live.

Shorter commute time and privacy. I already have a car and I HATE lugging my groceries around on the bus.

Public transportation is not a viable option where I live.
Besides, a car takes me exactly where I want when I want.

Public transit is almost never the fastest option. Even when I lived in New York City, it wasn't the fastest option. If you were running late, you'd spend the extra money on a taxi to get to the airport or to get across town and except for the very peak of rush hour, it was faster. That's broadly been true in my travels in Europe, as well: taxis are almost always faster, from London to Rome.

Add to that, in the US, the actual experience of using public transit is often quite bad. Public transit is, well, public. You share a limited space, sometimes a very limited space, with literally anyone. Women are groped. The smell of urine is common. The seats are sticky. It's just gross, even in wealthy areas.

In contrast, with a car, you have a private, controlled environment. The temperature is what you want it to be. There's music. You can have a private conversation with your spouse. The chair is comfortable. Maybe you even have heated seats with a massage function. But whatever car you have, it's probably more luxurious than even a great public transit option.

So:

• Faster
• More personal space
• More private
• No perverts, no bodily fluids, no body odor, no one on the way home from the fish market

I prefer public transport but I've been tempted by a car.

Even in the UK in a city with decent transport links, some commutes are massively faster by car. Travelling at night. Public transport sometimes has wild enough prices that taking a car solo is a better value proposition.

Commuting in a car versus a sardine bus is also more pleasant.

I've got 2 kids, and the public transportation in my area is basically non existent. My choices are taking a bus that doesn't get me even remotely close to where I need to be... or... uber? A taxi?

There's just nothing else here.

This would be like if a farmer went to New York City and said I don’t understand why everybody doesn’t just milk their own cow instead of buying it from the grocery store.