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I disagree with his take on traffic jams though. Public transportation, bikes, and well designed cities really do solve traffic

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True enough, but those are technological solutions to a social problem. E.g., if the public transportation is terrible because it's dangerous or you get hassled on it, people don't use it.

The guy sitting in a 4 hour commute every day is doing it for a reason. It's a cost he's willing to pay for some benefit.

Sure, and sometimes it’s the reasons you cite and sometimes the lack of an alternative. I always was surprised at people tolerating I-80 even when capital corridor would work for them.

None of those are as good as being able to drive a car around somewhere which is traffic free and has ample parking. Of course, it's inherently not possible for that experience to be open to everyone.

Not having to drive is usually much nicer, though. You can do something else while travelling, you don’t have to plan around where you leave your valuable vehicle, you can drink alcohol, etc.

Either way, for occasional driving to be pleasant it’s necessary for most travel to happen by public transport, so it has to be the most convenient option for most journeys.

True, though when I had a buddy (a poor man’s Vespa) it was close enough to that to feel like a cheat code.

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