Riding the public transportation

Is actually not that bad. By car my commute is like 25 minutes. With the public transportation it is 30. Plus the 20 minute walk from my place to the train station (it takes 25 by bus, one line, no transfer, stops 3 mins from my home...). Plus the train comes like every hour or so; mornings and evenings probably like every 45 mins. The bus stops at my workplace. Comes every 30 mins. These are the factors that makes me not want to ride the train and bus. And even though my new place sponsors my passes, pub. trans. is like $25-30 less a month than gas for your car. But then i don't have to watch the time, nor do I need to wait for the train being late while it rains a little and the track gets slippery (otherwise why would it be late?).

So I understand that buses cannot come more often because there're not enough people riding them. And this is why the tickets cannot be cheaper either. But people will not switch to public transportation until gas prices don't force them. Catch 22.

I got my visa papers yesterday, so I'm going to the DMV tomorrow morning to get my driver's license back, and I will drive my car to work.

In Europe gas is twice that expensive, monthly pass in a fairly sized city is around $70-150, cities are cities and not over-sized villages, so everything is closer to each other, there's sidewalk, bus comes every 5-10 mins, and I don't have to walk more then 10 mins to the nearest station. Plus gas prices make me consider every small trip I plan using my car...

Here public transportation will never be successful while people can afford using their cars. Even carpooling is a better option right now. And you cannot change the settlement patterns. Americans want to live in houses and they're ready to commute 30-50 minutes by car because of the backyard they want.