Mass Transit?

The topic of my blog today is going to be something that plagues cities across, the world, no its not overcrowding, the poor, or even crime. The problem I plan to address is transportation, with specific regard to mass transit. It is a scene we have come to expect when traveling to lager cities. Horns honking, traffic lined up for miles, road rage, and just general chaos. An its not even limited to major metropolitan areas. Even York is plagued by congestion on its major thoroughfares. When you take a look at what cities around the planet have low traffic, most are centered around Europe. European society values cities much more compared to America, so it would be expected that they have figured out some of the issues.
There are two main reasons for the less congestion. They drive much smaller cars, and they use alternative methods of travel. In countries like Germany, over 80% of the nation uses public transport on a daily basis. This is possible due to the extensive train, bus, and subway services available to the public, as well as the efficiency of their systems. It is often joked that you could set your watch to the German train system.



So what would we have to do to match the urban centers of Europe. Some cities in the United States already have efficient and well used mass transit systems. Portland, Oregon for example is leading the stride for better mass transit. The problem with the system right now is the lack of synchronization. You can get around fine in the city, but if your a commuter, or live in a different city, you usually have to take 3 different types of travel, with long overlaps in between. If we invested in a larger, more cohesive, faster, and better looking(lets not lie here, most old city buses and trains look horrendous), we would have less congestion. And we all know that when there is less congestion, people are happier.
So in conclusion I leave it up to you. Would you rather be sitting in traffic in the middle of summer with thousands of others, or be enjoying a smooth ride on a new, fast and efficient train?