There are very, very few people in America who - when given a choice between driving and taking public transit - will take public transit, no matter how convenient the public transit is.

And in this example, how many stops would you have to cut to turn an hour-long bus ride into a 20 minute one, to compete with the car? You're effectively cutting it down to two stops - where you board, and where you disembark. That's just not a plausible way to organize a bus route, aiming it at one person with a car.

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ambicapter 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> There are very, very few people in America who - when given a choice between driving and taking public transit - will take public transit, no matter how convenient the public transit is.

I find this very unlikely to be true for people who have spent any amount of time driving in a city.

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pavel_lishin 3 hours ago | parent [-]

I think the majority of city residents tend not to own cars, but I could be wrong about that.

	▲	ambicapter an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		They don't own cars because owning a car in the city sucks in a lot of ways, more so than in rural areas. So yeah, if your point is that if you take away all the bad parts of using a car, and leave public transit as is, then using a car comes out ahead. Splendid.
	▲	stetrain 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		That feels like you've made a tautology here. In places where public transit is more convenient than driving (and parking), many people choose not to own and drive a car.
	▲	an hour ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
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	▲	dghlsakjg 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Owning a car is not mutually exclusive with commuting via transit. > I think the majority of city residents tend not to own cars This depends a HUGE amount on the city. NYC/London/Paris probably true. LA? It is not uncommon for a household to have more cars than drivers

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janalsncm 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Counterpoint: many people are driving cars they cannot afford and car loan delinquencies are at record highs. People would take public transit if it were an option.

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kenjackson 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If public transit was super convenient I think way more people would take it. There are things and places I don’t frequent purely because of parking and public transit isn’t convenient.

But I don’t want to drive three miles to park in a sketchy lot to hop on a train that will drop me off a mile from the venue.

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selimthegrim 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

You’re assuming parking is free. Donald Shoup’s shade is shaking its head at you