FredMau

I agree that one word is very, very important. But there are two further words that push Mass Transit over the brink for most people: In economics it's called "marginal cost".

I've been lucky a couple of times in my life where, between a bicycle and Mass Transit, I could almost get to everywhere I'd ever need to go. I could almost do away with the car. (Portland OR was one such place)

Almost. But not Quite. I still needed a car for at least SOME things. And most people are similarly situated. Not all, but most.

So let's start with the fact that I NEED a car. And let's further say that the things I NEED the car for are what "pays for" the car, so to speak (because if it didn't we wouldn't be having this conversation). AAA in 2020 says this is about 82 cents per mile for a new car and a minimal 10,000 miles a year. So let's front-load that 82¢/mile on to the trips I actually NEED the car for.

Now, I need to make one more trip. For this trip, I COULD either take the car or Mass transit. But the car is already sitting there, "paid for" so to speak, so at this point I can operate it for the marginal cost of each additional mile, Basically the cost of gasoline which for most people is going to be around 10¢-15¢/mile. OR I could take Mass Transit where, on the whole, fares average out to about 28¢/passenger-mile (Urban Institute, 2019).

You want me to pay an extra 18¢/mile, then I want ONE thing in return: Convenience. Ah, there's a FOURTH word to be added to the list. Yes, SOMETIMES it works that way. In Portland, sometime it was just convenient to take the Maxx light rail than drive and find a pay for a parking spot, etc. But not enough that it would have paid the cost of light rail.

Freedom. Marginal Cost. Convenience. Mass Transit just can't hold a candle to ALL of this as a whole.