Bush: Pay up or take the bus 2728

Bob

I think Bev meant cost was the only reason in the case of most mbutt transit systems in most cities in the US. Yes, if you live in an atypical city like New York or Boston, mbutt transit has other advantages. But in most cities, it's less convenient and you get to your destination later than if you'd driven. In most cities, "mbutt transit which is free of traffic delays" doesn't exist.

Where I live, you can either get on the freeway in your car, or you can drive to a park and ride, then wait 20 minutes, then get on a bus that gets on the same freeway and goes 50 instead of 65. There are no other mbutt transit options. They have plans to build a local train system, but it will go from northwest of town to east of downtown and then double back and go west to downtown, making a giant upside-down "7" shape. Few people really want to go east of downtown where it will stop, and it will probably take more time to get downtown on the train than it does using the express bus, which at least doesn't go 5 miles out of the way. And I don't really need to go downtown anyway, since most jobs are elsewhere, unless you work for the state government. (I live in Austin, which is the capital of Texas.)

So the point is, in most cities what Bev said is pretty accurate. The only exception would be that sometimes mbutt transit is worth it because it avoids certain hbuttles. My aunt lives in Dallas and takes the DART train to work downtown. I once asked her if she found the train faster, cheaper, or more convenient, or all of the above. She thought for a minute and answered that it was slower and more expensive, but it's a lot easier than dealing with the parking situation downtown.

- Logan