Our national neglect of our non-car transportation systems was never more apparent than when oil was reaching it's peak and people were abandoning their cars for those systems en masse.
The problem is that those systems almost always suck and there's no way to fix it.
I'll give an example. I live on the north side of the river and my job is on the south side of the river. The city has maybe 10 bridges that go across the river. The most direct path to work is fairly short, maybe 10 miles or so. The direct path also crosses several major roads and takes the most time, about 1.5 hours to get to work. The fastest way to get to work is to travel to the edge of the city and drive on the road that circles around the city. The distance is 30 miles and it takes about 45 minutes.
My city's transit system has an application on their website that helps plan bus trips by telling which bus to take and how long the trip will take. If I put in that I need to
arrive at 8am, it says there is no possible way I can do this. If I enter that I intend to leave my house at 7am (peak bus service), it estimates the trip as taking 2 hours and 10 minutes. It involves taking 2 buses, then taking the train across the river, then taking a third bus after that.
So then what if I didn't want to travel and just decided to move closer? No can do. Offices are generally located in prime real estate locations. Downtown is the absolute worst for price, but my office isn't downtown. My office is a 1 floor building near the $400,000 houses. If I stop driving to work and just move closer, I save $1000-2000 per year on gas, but my rent would go up by about $4,000 at the very minimum. It would be a nicer place to live, but it's still money I don't have.
edit:
in before some retard says I should buy a $30,000 hybrid car to save money.