Why is it hard for cities/towns to promote public transport over cars and freeways?
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To quote Homer Simpson “Public transit is for losers”
In North America there’s a perception that owning a car is a sign of wealth, success, and freedom and a lot of people refuse to use public transit for that reason alone.
Even if it’s relatively cheap, efficient, and environmentally friendly to use public transit, people like the convenience of having their own vehicle that can go where they want, when they want.
Public transit is often congested and slow. While it’s efficient for getting a large number of people in and out of key areas it’s poor for transporting people to specific locations or in and out of suburbs.
The suburbs are the key factor as well, because those living in an urban city center are more likely to use public transport than those living outside of the city. The realities and cost of having to park a car at home or at work in an urban center make public transit more appealing.
A lot of this comes down to lack of infrastructure mind you, with more development on subways and buses public transport would be a lot more affordable and efficient, but peoples refusal to use it makes the situation worse. It also doesn’t help that for many cities public transport and cars were an after thought to the city design. So cities aren’t laid out nicely for public transport.
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