@TheConversationUS I'm a huge advocate for public transit, but in my city, bublic transit is its own worst enemy. The busses are usually 10-60 minutes late, so it can be faster for my to ride my bike in the snow than to take the bus. Also, the inside of some busses is uncomfortably loud. I bring 3M earmuffs just in case I get one of the loud busses. Even walking/riding my bike can be uncomfortable/dangerous because of the number of cars around. The road noise is loud, the bike lanes are small, and you can't listen to music unless you're hyper-alert with your other senses and mostly stay on the sidewalks (i.e. don't cross the street).

I mainly blame the car-culture of suburbia for the low quality and/or total lack of public transit in American cities. The population density ia often too low for public transit to be possible. I grew up in suburbia, and while it was fun to play in the woods outside my house, I had to ride my bike for an hour to get to the public library. Also, my Mom spent a lot of time driving me around because my activities were too far to bike in a reasonable amount of time. I always felt pretty bad about this, because commuting feels like nothing but a waste of time and money. Even after I got a driver's license, I would have been stranded if my parents hadn't given me a hand-me-down car. In fact, I had no experience with public transit until I visited Boston in my late teens. I feel like an urban center with a park would have provided the same amenities in a more reasonable radius.

To me, it seems like some of the most innovative technologies of the last 10-20 years exist only because of the mess created by suburbs (e.g. Uber, self driving cars, etc.). Personally, this seems like a huge waste of effort and research potential to fix a self-induced problem. It's very frustrating.