> People would rather pay 10x to sit in their own luxury bubble in traffic
I think it has a lot less to do with the bubble factor than the fact that public transportation in the US just sucks, period.
My 3-mile commute from Menlo Park to Palo Alto would take
- bus: 58 minutes (2 minute walk from home to bus stop + 12 minutes average wait for ECR bus + 10 minutes on ECR + 12 minutes average wait in Palo Alto Transit Center for bus 22 + 15 minutes on bus 22 + 7 minutes walking to work)
- train: 51 minutes (4 minutes walking from home to station + 30 minutes average wait till next train + 5 minute train ride + 12 minutes walking to work).
- running: 35 minutes end to end
- bike: 15 minutes end to end
- Uber: 13-20 minutes
- driving: 8-12 minutes
I bike, but I can see why others would drive. Public transportation is basically defunct here. I can run faster to work than taking public transportation. That says something about seriously how bad it is.
I think it has a lot less to do with the bubble factor than the fact that public transportation in the US just sucks, period.
My 3-mile commute from Menlo Park to Palo Alto would take
- bus: 58 minutes (2 minute walk from home to bus stop + 12 minutes average wait for ECR bus + 10 minutes on ECR + 12 minutes average wait in Palo Alto Transit Center for bus 22 + 15 minutes on bus 22 + 7 minutes walking to work)
- train: 51 minutes (4 minutes walking from home to station + 30 minutes average wait till next train + 5 minute train ride + 12 minutes walking to work).
- running: 35 minutes end to end
- bike: 15 minutes end to end
- Uber: 13-20 minutes
- driving: 8-12 minutes
I bike, but I can see why others would drive. Public transportation is basically defunct here. I can run faster to work than taking public transportation. That says something about seriously how bad it is.