I love mass transit! Unfortunately, many do not, which limits the routes and times in many areas. If we can get more people to use mass transit we can make in more convenient, and more people would use it.

The question is, how do we get the ball rolling?

And if you've been to Atlanta, you've seen how not to design a transit system. Unfortunately, Atlanta grew large after cars were popular (starting in the early 70s), so the infrastructure wasn't there for decent mass transit without spending a lot of money (MARTA trains started running in 82, IIRC). Add to that an irrational fear of urban criminals riding trains and buses to the suburbs to rob and pillage that has prevented adoption of transit by the outer counties, and you get a traffic nightmare.

Tax the crap out of cars and fuel, road tolls, congestion pricing and so forth to fund intercity rail, suburban rail and streetcar/subway networks, better and safer bikeways so even elderly people feel comfortable riding in the city center.

Washington DC surprised me. They have great (federally funded) public transit.

Yes carpooling and mass transit can push pollution down a couple of percentage point but that's not the american way of life nor mine, i want to drive my car fast , long travel, alone or with others so the only real solution is to power it with a unique fuel that not pollute at all and cost nothing
so i can have a powerful car and don't mind fuel. The fuel im talking abouth is water. The energy and pollution crisis come from a mistake scientists and engineers have done and it's that they wrongly assume that there is no energy in water but the truth is that water is an energy source. The only thing you have to do to water to adapt it for an engine is refine it like they do to crude oil to adapt it to actual engine. The refine process of water is called 'electrolysis, it turn it to his adapted energy content that is hydrogen and oxygen. So you begin with energy in the form of plain water then you refine it to hydrogen and oxygen then you fed the engine. With the latest methods of electrolysis that take very few electricity it's possible to do the electrolysis on board the car while driving. Some have done it and it's possible to see the video in youtube on the title 'japanese water car' . Scientist and engineers that have omited to discover that water contain energy should go see that film and say that they were on their way to discover it before i said, LOL.

Unfortunately, the infrastructure for public transit just isn't availiable in most cities.

In Houston here, the closes we have is just buses and light-rail. The buses are generally ok, but waiting out for a bus in the Texas heat is awful.

Light-rail is only available closer to downtown, there's public opposition to their properties being cut down for the sake of light-rail, and it's only convenient if you live near the inner city.

Also the fact that most of TxDOT's money goes to fixing up highways, and building new ones, the closest we've got is carpooling in the HOV lane.

So until the infrastructure is ready, and the people can feel that public transit isn't awful, then you won't see a big move towards public transit yet.

A.B, your post breaks multiple laws of science, and even more laws of grammar.

Public transportation is poor in my area too. I'm fortunate in that I work at home and my daughter's school is walking distance, so we're a one car family, that being used by my husband to get to work or me for errands.

I'm not surprised that walking and biking aren't mentioned in this article. The routes you have to take by walking or biking tend to be the same roads that are filled with cars. In that case, you really aren't doing yourself any favors with respect to particulates (you're probably inhaling even more). They are, of course, healthy in many other ways.

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SF: Actually, the article mentioned that the air in your car has 4-8 times the particulates of your city's ambient air. This is probably because once the pollutants get into your car they have nowhere to disperse, unlike walking/biking in the open air.

yeah, i live in ATL, no i don't own a car, yeah just riding my bike thru midtown traffic is enough to harm my health (quasi-asthma attacks from air pollutants and automobile road rage)

i used to think "boy, i can't wait to live somwhere where public transportation is good." then a friend gave me some good advice "wherever you live, you can make non-automobile travel work, but you gotta work it!"

never give up, never surrender

SF: Actually, the article mentioned that the air in your car has 4-8 times the particulates of your city's ambient air. This is probably because once the pollutants get into your car they have nowhere to disperse, unlike walking/biking in the open air.

I don't know what they mean by "ambient air," but it certainly isn't the air a cyclist chews on in downtown traffic, or a pedestrian inhales on a narrow sidewalk next to an arterial with lots of big trucks and buses (especially school buses and garbage trucks).

I won't stop taking public transportation, but I did get weirded out when my doctor recommended annual TB tests just because I take public transportation.

From what we have learned in recent months, maybe the doctor should be screening anyone who has taken air travel instead.

Excellent source article with even more facts and well sourced. Check it out. And don't even get me started on idling from all of this!

Compared to US,I think in the use of public transport in India is more in metros like-Mumbai(Bombay),Dehi,Bangalore.
We can see every day millions travel in the "electric
train" which commute alomost 22 hours a day that too jam-packed in Mumbai.
In bangalore alomst all buses are crowded and city strarted for metro rail.
But if the people are affordable for cars then I dont think they would prefer this transit where u are alone in car and enjoy more pleasures .
So as told by some one "we have to think about cleaner fuels"electric or water what ever it may be'".

I walk to work in London. I could walk the same route that I might drive, but why? Instead, I can walk through a park, and along smaller, residential streets -- it's shorter, and away from the noise and pollution of the main roads.

I'm not convinced that walking along a busy road is 'better' than driving along it -- presumably it depends on the weight of traffic and the time it takes to walk/drive, as well as the wind etc.

I live in Greensboro, NC and most people have a love affair with their cars. Public transportation here is o.k, but most of the excellent jobs are not on the bus line. It is also difficult to wait in the heat and the rain waiting for a bus; especially if there are no benches, nor a shelter.

Here in Montreal, QC, public transportation is good as long as you don't get too far from the metro lines. But being unable to reach any interesting point on the island in less than 45 minutes is a major drowback of our system. That's why many people keep on using their car; despite the super-heavy traffic, they get to work in 30 minutes or less.

Anywhere a government wants us to use public transportation, first, provide them with decent travel times, second, with reasonable fares; here wo had 45% increase in 5 years, with ever lowering service.