Fact is, personal mobility is great. Better transit will mean that more people will use it, but it will never be as good as cars outside of very dense cities (something that urbanites don't seem to be able to wrap their heads around).

We should be working on the problems that we have, not dream about how people should be. Cars have side effects, lets work on those instead of wishing and wishing that everybody would just suddenly give up their cars. Not going to happen; people like freedom, and public transit is the opposite of freedom in most places.

"A man who, beyond the age of 26, finds himself on a bus can count himself as a failure."
Wikiquote identifies this as a misquotation:
"There is no solid evidence that Margaret Thatcher ever quoted this statement with approval, or indeed shared the sentiment."

The Thatcher quote is of dubious authenticity. See for example: http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1560194,00.html

Please source a little more carefully, as this is more of a news site than a casual blog.

And what's the point of a survey like this on TH anyway?

I don't think "we" should invest in better roads, but I'm all for user-pays systems with electronic tolls and such. I disagree that people who don't use certain roads should be made to pay for them. If the cost of roads wasn't so spread out, we'd have a lot less sprawl, and the roads that we do have would be in better conditions.

I feel your poll leaves out some options. I live in a large western city and to take the bus to work every day would take over two hours and factoring in daycare dropoffs, that is just not feasible for me. I live less than 20 miles from work. It's not like I drive my car because I love it and hate hippies, I just don't have other reasonable options. They're building light rail here, but similar to Atlanta, it will only serve a small area and expansion is opposed by many surrounding areas. In short, I found the "with us or agin' us" tone of your poll icky. There are a lot of people who want a better world, and this type of elitist snark doesn't help get them on board. That said, your website is great. Thanks.

LA: Does that not fall under "I would take transit if it was convenient, comfortable and on schedule, but it isn't."? And what elitist snark?

I want very much to take transit and give up my car, I even attempted to give up my car for a whole two months, so I can tell you from experience that in my city it is just plain impossible. It would take me two hours just to get to the grocery store [the same time it would take to walk there], because of the ridulous routes and how often the buses are very late, and just the lack of buses and routes altogether.

Have you done, or could you do, a post regarding what we can to to motivate our areas to get better transit systems?

Cars have side effects, but I also think cars *are* side effects.

Cars are side effects of inefficient land use and the mind set that car = mobility/freedom. If everything were more conveniently located relative to our living spaces, we wouldn't have to be "mobile" and we would have a lot more "freedom" in our daily activities.

We've managed to live in both "the big city" and a town of 9,000 people located 4 hours outside of a major city without a driver's license between the two of us. We also need to travel out of province, and internationally on a regular basis, so we do find ways to get around.

Sure, the real estate agent looks at you funny when you say, "I have to live on one of these 3 streets" in a town that takes 10 minutes to drive through. But, we do it relatively easily even in a place where most people wouldn't dream of living without a car.

I agree that it would be much more challenging to live in suburbia, but crossing that option off of our list hasn't caused us too much heartache. ;)

You forgot the option of 'Can't afford a car' I'm in that position and many more are joining the crowd.

I try to bike to work and school as much as I can, which is mainly a function of the weather. Even so, I still need to use a car to go shopping, camping, etc.

Your poll leaves out some options.

>>I don't want or need a car.
>>I would take transit if it was convenient.
>>I love my car.
>>Get those damn buses and bikes out of my way.

What about:
I own a car but take the bus / bike to work.

These types of polls remind me of Family guy:
"Which best describes Brian: Sexual deviant or magic picture that if you stare at it long enough, you see something?"

You need a fifth option for the vote -- "I take transit or bicycle most of the time, but still use my car from time to time." That's me! :)