I’m 25 and I don’t have a drivers license. I mean, I’ve never really felt the need to go and get one. Public transport is usually the fastest option where I live, and it takes a lot less responsibility to use it.
But most people would still prefer driving, rather than using the public T. Why?
I think this is the main reason people don’t use it in America.
Public transportation doesn’t exist for most Americans.
If it does exist, it’s really bad. Buses are the most prevalent in America and they just suck in most cities.
Bus routes are pretty sparse, so you end up having to walk a pretty decent distance to catch the bus and then again when you get off the bus and go to your destination. It sucks because it adds and extra 30 minutes to the trip, but the exercise is nice so for me the walk is something I can deal with.
What I can deal with is the fact that buses are hardly ever on schedule. A late bus sucks because you’re waiting forever for it to get there. An early bus can be even worse; if you get to your stop 2 minutes early but the bus was 4 minutes early you’ve missed it and now you’re waiting another ~20 minutes for the next one. If that bus happened to take you to an infrequent connecting route you’re going to miss that connection too. Now instead of being 20 minutes late you’re an hour late because you missed your connection.
I’d love to take public transportation instead of my car, but I don’t want to waste hours of my life waiting around because the bus is never where it’s supposed to be when it’s supposed to be there.