I suppose there are so few walkable places in my country that most of the people who live in them are there on purpose and thus won’t engage in this strange behavior.

Yes, it sucks being carless in a car-dependent place. That’s exactly my point.

However, I apologize for insulting you. I don’t know you or your experience and I jumped to a lot of conclusions in my previous comments.

What I’m trying to say is that the reason your bus/train commute sucks isn’t that it’s a bus/train. It’s that, at least in a lot of cities, the only people who ride the bus/train are those who can’t afford a car. Which means several things:

1. Transit is underfunded
2. Transit has incomplete coverage
3. Entire human settlements are built without any concern for people who don’t have a car
4. Cities are designed to allow maximum car throughput and parking, which inherently makes other forms of transportation worse

Your very lived experience is exactly a consequence of car-centric design, and a laser-like focus on self-driving cars will only perpetuate that design philosophy.

I want more competently designed cities in North America!

EDIT: Also, you’re getting downvoted for this statement? Did some Truth Social members somehow end up in this thread?

I haven’t been to Germany but based on what I know of it (and other European countries), your suburbs are a very different beast from ours. We have a level of urban sprawl in North America that most Europeans would have to see to believe. Its simply designed to move and park as many cars as possible, with human comfort as an afterthought.

It’s the implication that your marginal convenience and comfort are more important than all the damage that car-centric infrastructure causes to the poor, those who can’t drive, the environment, our cities, etc. That’s what makes you self-centered.

EDIT: And by the way, humans are social creatures by nature - we don’t all hate being in close proximity with random strangers. In fact, in the context of an urban area, I’d argue that many of the people who do feel that way are probably suffering from the psychological damage of growing up in a suburb.

Its all relative. For us Americans, Germany (and most of the rest of Europe) is a transit paradise.

Good point: lack of density is yet another negative byproduct of car-first infrastructure.

Is this sarcasm or are you just extremely self-centered?