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It's fascinating how - with respect to the US - people have a distorted view of public transport (I'm assuming mostly outside the US):
- San Francisco has mediocre public transit, at best, with streetcars, a limited BART set of lines, and buses. SF's public transit system isn't anywhere near as robust as Boston's, for example.
- Chicago, which is completely absent from this list, has one of the best public transit systems in the US - certainly better than Philadelphia and - probably - Boston.
- Where's Washington D.C.? The metro and affiliated buses is fabulous (certainly compared to many other cities).
- Also, there are a number of American cities - like San Diego and even LA - that have belatedly begun to put mass transit systems in place. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I'm hoping we'll see a lot more light rail development in the US as gas prices inevitably rise.
Glad I read the entire thread, as this is what i was thinking as I went through the posts. Lots of people come to Chicago with a car and sell it a year later, especially those in their 20's. I could have lived in LA without a car, but my junker provided flexibility to get around, better than the bus and relatively new metro lines. Surprisingly, I knew lots of people in LA living without cars, even with their relatively poor public transit.
NYC is the only one that comes to mind since at least half the locals don't have a vehicle. I agree we North Americans are car dependant.
More than we realize, in some US cities, car ownership is a choice, not a necessity. I haven't owned a car most of my adult life. Everywhere I've lived, public transport has met my needs: the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Santa Fe, NM. San Francisco has the best bus system I've ever seen. Only NYC has a better transport system in my experience, due to the subway. Portland, OR, has an excellent public transport system, too.
really? i got around fine around tuscany without a car. my freind who lives in pistoia took the train to florence, he never owned a car.
well if you want to visit all the little hill towns on a bus as a tourist in a tourist group then i guess you wont need a car...other than that you may miss a lot of little treasures that the tour buses dont go to
The United States is the ODD one out where cars are often the only way to get places. Mostly because of the auto industry starting there, and the money they used to make sure they'd make sure our U.S. cities were car dependent.
The only other countries kind of like it might be Canada and Australia...although their main cities have good mass transit - just like our largest US cities do as well.
But generally speaking you NEVER need a car to go ANYWHERE in the world...ONLY when in North America or Australia do you need a car.
Well in Tokyo, if you live close to the city then no need for car, although everyone owns one anyway.. But in the outer areas/suburbs everyone has cars..
Personally, I have never needed to own a car. I passed my test four years ago and since then have only driven for a grand total of about 15 minutes.
Where's Australia?
Everyone here drives a car, everyone.. You simply cannot survive here without a car.. Even people who use public transportation use a car for part of the trip, then take the transport..
Everyone here drives a car, everyone.. You simply cannot survive here without a car.. Even people who use public transportation use a car for part of the trip, then take the transport..
I lived hear for many years without a car
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