The subtext is that all the people in the cars (and only one per car, for that matter, which is definitely common, but not universal) are going to the exact same destination from the exact same starting point, at the same time, and that there is a public transit route that travels between the two places at the time everyone wants to travel, because that’s the only way the comparison is honest.
As above, I want more public transit in more places, as well as more mixed residential/light commercial so that people don’t have to travel as far. But the fact remains that private automobiles and public transit serve two very different purposes, only really overlapping in that they transport people from one place to another. The other details matter, and they’re different for each. “Hurr durr cars bad buses good” is so oversimplified as to be not even wrong.
The subtext is that all the people in the cars (and only one per car, for that matter, which is definitely common, but not universal) are going to the exact same destination from the exact same starting point, at the same time, and that there is a public transit route that travels between the two places at the time everyone wants to travel, because that’s the only way the comparison is honest.
As above, I want more public transit in more places, as well as more mixed residential/light commercial so that people don’t have to travel as far. But the fact remains that private automobiles and public transit serve two very different purposes, only really overlapping in that they transport people from one place to another. The other details matter, and they’re different for each. “Hurr durr cars bad buses good” is so oversimplified as to be not even wrong.