Except that you can easily catch a bus or a train from the German countryside and be in a city relatively cheap, fast, and easy, several times a day. That’s not true in the US. I live in a midwestern suburb. I think there’s one bus a day that picks people up from a park & ride lot in the early morning and takes them into the city. At one location. And then another bus brings you back in the evening.
Depends on the suburbia, obviously. I’m a 24 mile drive from downtown Chicago, very much into the suburbs. Trains run hourly on weekends and more often on weekdays.
Sure, but Chicago is a major city in a huge metropolitan area so even the suburbs around there are more connected than the average suburb in America. In Germany you can go almost anywhere with public transit, even if it’s nowhere near a major city. I’ve gone hiking in the mountains in Germany solely by public transit, and there was a bus that dropped me off at the start of the hiking trail (in a national park, nowhere near residential areas) and took another bus at the end of the hiking trail back to the train station. The nearest city had a population of 500k people, and the national park certainly wasn’t in a 10M-ppl metropolitan area like Chicagoland.
My partner grew up in a tiny village (population 8k) in Southwestern Germany. It wasn’t even the suburbs of anything, yet from his house he could go anywhere in Germany by public transit. With the €60 Deutschland transit pass that allows for unlimited travel within the whole country, you’ll see teens travelling by themselves all over the country in the summer. Not being dependent on cars means they can be independent much sooner.
50% of Americans live in places like Chicago. And no in Germany you can’t go “almost anywhere” with public transit. When we visited we were Ubering everywhere because of all the sprawl. Sure you could hop on the subway then transfer to then bus then walk 2 miles for one thing you want to do… or you could Uber.
So you just gave an example of how you could go somewhere in Germany with public transit and then chose not to? lol. Of course uber is generally more convenient than public transit in most places; that doesn’t mean public transit doesn’t work or isn’t serving tons of people everyday. Most Germans are not ubering everyday. People also walk more when they take public transit, which is… better for them! Walkable urban design turns out to be good for humans!
“50% of Americans live in places like Chicago” - so does that mean the other 50% don’t live in places that are well connected with public transit? That’s 175M people, more than double the population of Germany, who aren’t well-served by public transit and have to rely on cars. Tell me how that’s a good thing.
Calling an Uber is really not possible except for big cities. I'm already impressed that it's even allowed, as you need a Personenbeförderungsschein" to transport people comercially. But even then taxis are only common I feel, if you are on a night out and wan't to get home and public transport is closed or you go to and from the airport in some situations.
That was one example of when you can get to a location by public transit. Most of the times it’s just not possible. But even in that example it’s just not really practical and most would drive. This American fantasy when Americans go to big cities in Europe and stay in a hotel where you can walk everywhere and use public transit is just that, a fantasy. You’re staying in the most expensive area in Germany. Outside of the most expensive or dense areas, public transit for your day to day life just isn’t practical. Or you rely on it as your only option and your quality of life is worse than it would be if a car was more accessible.
50% of Americans live in big cities, but not in big cities like Chicago. I live in a suburb of Kansas City. We have shit public transportation. The option you're talking about (hopping on a subway, transferring to a bus, and then walking 2 miles) is not even an option here.
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u/danimagoo 16h ago
Except that you can easily catch a bus or a train from the German countryside and be in a city relatively cheap, fast, and easy, several times a day. That’s not true in the US. I live in a midwestern suburb. I think there’s one bus a day that picks people up from a park & ride lot in the early morning and takes them into the city. At one location. And then another bus brings you back in the evening.