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Comment by tcbasche | Hacker News Reader

Forgive my ignorance, but doesn't California have public transport? Renting cars isn't the only option I would think?

I dunno, I'm not from the US so maybe I just don't understand.

California is a huge state, and LA, Southern California is huge metropolitan area, so too is the San Francisco Bay area.

Public transportation is mostly buses and some amount of light rail, they are indeed options if you are only traveling short distances, otherwise they are not a timely option if they are any option at all.

Within the city of San Francisco, I mostly travel either by my own car, by walking, or by bus or light rail, but SF is very unique in California, but to get to places in the region, outside the city, public transit is not your best bet

I can only speak for SF. While SF does have a public transportation system it leaves a lot to be desired. It usually runs late or not at all. Sometimes it's faster to walk 40-50min than it is to wait for the bus to stop by.

SF is pretty much the best in the state overall for public transportation, except for maybe small portions of San Diego (like downtown or the UCSD area).

if SF is the best, i REALLY don't wanna see the worst. i've been to SF a bunch of times and every single time i have issues with the public transportation system.

If you are from Europe and you have never visited California, then you have a lot to learn about our crazy transportation. Most of California, and especially Southern California, is car-centric. Los Angeles was the first large city that was built up after the invention of the automobile, and it really shows. Living in LA without a car is a pretty atypical behavior.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/nobody-walks-in-la-th...

I live in Australia where the car also reigns supreme. I would say there’s no decent public transportation anywhere in the country outside of the capital cities, and even then it really depends on where you live.

I think a lot of Europeans don't appreciate just how abysmal the public transport options are in practically every American city.

Australian, so I’m in the exact same abysmal boat!

Also Europeans don't appreciate just how geographically spread out stuff in America is compared to Europe.

Public transport in the US, in general, sucks big time. California is no exception.

It's not pervasive and in most parts of the state there isn't any public transit running after the bars close

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