Public Transit Cannot Compete With The Auto

Indeed, had I lived within walking distance of the College Station, the train would have taken longer than the car --- on arterial streets and in a snowstorm. And light rail would have taken about twice as long more than 99 percent of the time that it is not snowing in St. Louis. What all of this demonstrates is the most fundamental problem with transit --- that it does not provide automobile competitive service. Yes, there are places where transit can compete with the automobile, such as the large downtown districts of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Boston, where 50 percent or more of work trip travel is by transit. Even to smaller downtown areas, such as St. Louis, Portland and Houston, express bus and rail services can be competitive with automobile. But there is a big "if" --- if the rider lives close to the transit line. For the vast majority of urban travel in both the United States and Western Europe, transit can simply cannot compete with the automobile except to or within the urban core, because it is either far slower or isn't even available."

Thanks to Chris Steins