People find their cars much safer than public transport. You are less likely to get mugged in your own car; notwithstanding the odd episode of road rage.

Inside your own car you are unlikely to experience the pungent sour melange of unwashed bodies, bad breath, the strange gorilla-after-dark deodorant that some people use and of course escaping body gas.

I'll pass on that experience thank you.

Alan, you must be having a laugh. Would I be right in suggesting this article was written with the sole intention of enraging "peak oilers?"
But, getting away from the emotional rhetoric of the notion of peak oil, Sage is quite correct. Public transport is not a pleasurable experience in any way, shape or form. This problem is not an easy one to address and yet building bigger and better roadways for personal and commercial transport won't prove to be a magic panacea either. Building up the road networks simply invites more patronage, which in turn quickly erodes the original intention of getting more people from point A to B as those same roadways become clogged with more people using personal transport that would otherwise be forced into using public transport. A better solution may be to create an environment whereby people didn't have to travel long distances to work. Eg: Practical urban planning where new workplace hubs are relocated to populas areas, more telecommuting, a shift away from the Kennet years where there was a tendancy to consolidate schools, hospitals and shires. Governments should take a good look at why people feel the need to spend two or three hours on the road each day simply to support their suburban lifestyles. Community groups must also take a greater part in this process. No one person has all the answers, but building more roadways certainly isn't one of them.

The institute of deregulation has spoken, but only told a bit of the truth. Have a look at how living in the suburbs hits pocketbooks in Washington DC. Of course everyone there is rich!, and petrol is around 60 cents a litre, but, but, but, what about the folks in Melbourne?

Recent mass transit developments deserve a more impartial treatment, rather than pretending they're not there and hoping no-one else finds out. Even in the land of milk, honey and rampant deregulation, there are strong counter-currents. Have a look at the Portland Light Rail: a safe ride, and an inexpensive one.

And what happens when petrol goes up again, after the US election?

Around D.C., a Cheaper House May Cost You
By Eric M. Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 12, 2006; Page A01

“One of the lures of the outer suburbs is more house -- maybe even one with a big yard -- for less money. But a new study shows that the ... costs of longer commutes are so high that they can outweigh the cheaper mortgage payments.

“A study of Washington and 27 other metropolitan areas by the Center for Housing Policy found that the costs of one-way commutes of as little as 12 to 15 miles ...[say 20 km] ... cancel any savings on lower-priced outer-suburban homes.
(snip)
“Barbara J. Lipman, an author of the study, said that people tend to focus on all the zeroes that differentiate the price of a closer-in house from one in the outer suburbs, but they don't realize how much they're spending on commuting costs, such as gas, tires and insurance.

“"Even if you save a couple of hundred dollars a month on your mortgage, it doesn't nearly outweigh the costs of the cars you are driving," she said.

“Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, said the data highlight a disconnect between where people live and work.
(snip)
“"A three-car family puts a lot of money into depreciating assets, instead of into mortgages and college educations," he said.”

I suspect the jury is still out. Please check this link, it holds that public transport use is increasing.

http://www.planetizen.com/node/21348

I'm a little wary of Demograhica stats. There seems to be a bias underpinned by Wendell Cox's desire for more freeways.

What is public transport? None here unless I want to drive to the nearest bus stop only to find that the one bus goes nowhere near where I want to go.

Wildcat " Public transport is not a pleasurable experience in any way, shape or form." - it can be but!!

The good bits
I commute by rail to and from work. In the mornings I generally read, something I very much enjoy and far better than driving.
In the afternoons if I catch the right train I have a group of friends I sit with which provides some important social time.

The other side
- The seating arangements in QR's citytrain network were either designed by a very thin short people or accountants who have a company car. If I sit across from other people I don't always want my legs rubbing along theirs (ok sometimes thats a nice bit but those legs are generally shorter). Likewise if an obese person sits next to me I don't really want to have rolls of fat flowing over me and no room to move my arms.
- If my car has something broken I get it fixed, QR has a habit of leaving trains with broken inter-carriage doors, dodgy AC etc for far to long.
- If someone throws up in my car it is cleaned really thoroughly before anybody has to use that seat again.
- I don't plan trips where I know I'll be taking a bunch of people I don't have seats for. Most peak hour services require a significant number of passengers to stand, dangerous and uncomfortable.
- People who don't work close to their train station can't carry bikes on the train during peak hours.
- The station near my sons school has a waiting list for bike lockers.
- For some reason we have a massive gap in the afternoon between some services and then a bunch of trains closely timed. It must make sense to somebody but I don't get it.

Maybe time for some changes to the way train's are set up to make them a more comfortable option. Address some of those bits that people only put up with if the alternatives are worse.

R0bert