It's not clear to me that this is an apples-to-apples comparison. Specifically: is the same commute by public transport longer by car? For example, you might be comparing a ride from Garden City to Lower Manhattan by train to a ride from Garden City to JFK Airport by car. If so, then this is completely meaningless.
There are also socioeconomic factors to consider. If you're poor then driving into Lower Manhattan just isn't an option for you. Car ownership is already expensive. Insurance in the NY metro area is particularly expensive. Parking anywhere in Manhattan is going to be really expensive.
So you may end up using data like this as a reason to eliminate what is for many people their only option.
At the other end of the spectrum are places like Houston, with a 26 lane freeway. It's also currently building the largest urban ring road in the world (IIRC) at >180 miles. Those are eyesores by themselves but it's absolutely criminal not to eliminate 2 lanes of a 26 lane freeway to run light rail along the length of the freeway. Stations are pretty easily combined with parking structures and integrated with bus routes.
What you realize after awhile is being car-centric in America is not only a question of profound selfishness but it's also de facto segregation. Not from inorities per se, just "undesirables" ie poor people. It's why wealthier neighborhoods like Santa Monica tried to fight rail expansion into their area.
The cost of car ownerships, much like most of the US outlawing building anything other than single family houses (typically on ridiculously large lots) is a deliberate economic barrier. US cities are really no different to Cape Town.
There are also socioeconomic factors to consider. If you're poor then driving into Lower Manhattan just isn't an option for you. Car ownership is already expensive. Insurance in the NY metro area is particularly expensive. Parking anywhere in Manhattan is going to be really expensive.
So you may end up using data like this as a reason to eliminate what is for many people their only option.
At the other end of the spectrum are places like Houston, with a 26 lane freeway. It's also currently building the largest urban ring road in the world (IIRC) at >180 miles. Those are eyesores by themselves but it's absolutely criminal not to eliminate 2 lanes of a 26 lane freeway to run light rail along the length of the freeway. Stations are pretty easily combined with parking structures and integrated with bus routes.
What you realize after awhile is being car-centric in America is not only a question of profound selfishness but it's also de facto segregation. Not from inorities per se, just "undesirables" ie poor people. It's why wealthier neighborhoods like Santa Monica tried to fight rail expansion into their area.
The cost of car ownerships, much like most of the US outlawing building anything other than single family houses (typically on ridiculously large lots) is a deliberate economic barrier. US cities are really no different to Cape Town.