While there are many reasons people have for driving a car rather than using public transportation, the #1 reason is based on a misconception of time. When people consider how long it takes to drive somewhere, they usually just think of it in terms of travel time, not including all the actual time that went into actually obtaining and maintaining the car that gets you there. Even if they add the car payments, insurance, gas, maintenance and parking fees, they would still only be scratching the surface. There are other costs and risks associated with driving that we should consider before we get behind the wheel, and some we don't want to think about, such as:
the time it takes to stop and pump gas and/or clean the car
parking and/or traffic tickets
being subject to search by police
driving in foul weather
a carjacking
people will judge you by your car
vandalism
theft
the risk of a DUI
distracted driving
getting into an accident and/or injuring oneself and/or loved ones
lawyer fees
funeral costs
hospital bills
an act of God
getting treated like a taxi
If even some of those things happened to me, I would conclude that driving just isn't worth it. I could also conclude that as temperatures rise and the dawn of extinction nears, our #1 reason to use public transportation will become to combat climate change, as it should have been all along. Aside from being part of living a healthy and financially stable lifestyle, public transit allows us the time to spend on other things, like figuring out how to better spend all the money and lives we're going to save.
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