Had a similar discussion with a friend, about why my wife and I take the bus to work when we could drive. We tried to explain that there is limited parking at any downtown office, and that the government doles out parking passes based on a point system - the further you live from an urban area and from public transit, the more likely you are to get a parking pass, likewise you get more points if you can prove that you are car-pooling (note that access to a park-and-ride site counts as access to public transit, so you have to live really far out of town).
Our friend blew up at us, and started ranting about how our employer doesn't have the right to tell what form of transportation we can or can't use, and that we have the right (yes, you read that correctly, we have the right) to drive our car to work. For us it makes no sense - a city bus starts its route about 50m from our door and drops me off about 10m from the entrance to my building; my wife has to transfer once. All in all it takes us about 30 to 45 minutes depending on the weather and traffic, but is much faster than trying to drive. If we need the car immediately after work, we drive to the nearest park-and-ride and still take the bus downtown.
Are the suburbs a different universe? Possibly. We live just on the edge of the 'burbs, and I think in our condo unit we are one of the few families that don't take our cars to work. People in live in the suburbs are strange. When we can afford a new place we're moving closer to downtown so we can walk everywhere.
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Our friend blew up at us, and started ranting about how our employer doesn't have the right to tell what form of transportation we can or can't use, and that we have the right (yes, you read that correctly, we have the right) to drive our car to work. For us it makes no sense - a city bus starts its route about 50m from our door and drops me off about 10m from the entrance to my building; my wife has to transfer once. All in all it takes us about 30 to 45 minutes depending on the weather and traffic, but is much faster than trying to drive. If we need the car immediately after work, we drive to the nearest park-and-ride and still take the bus downtown.
Are the suburbs a different universe? Possibly. We live just on the edge of the 'burbs, and I think in our condo unit we are one of the few families that don't take our cars to work. People in live in the suburbs are strange. When we can afford a new place we're moving closer to downtown so we can walk everywhere.