That’s because driving throws out all the externalities outside the window: pollution, noise, violence, the cost of roads, cutting cities with hostile canyons…

Saying driving is better is like saying littering is more convenient than picking up your trash.

And worse includes slower by 2x or more than driving, even with all the BS driving includes like traffic jams and finding parking.

That's usually the final straw people will put up with a decent amount but once they realize how much time they're spending - bam.

And part of the problem is that the only real way to get competitive fair box recovery (which shouldn't really be a goal, imo) is to pack the vehicles to standing-room only, which makes it hard to read a book or do something else.

This is a false dichotomy, no?

Driving somewhere for 30 minutes means you waste 30 minutes of your life in transport.

Taking a train somewhere for 50 minutes means you can do something else for 50 minutes. Read a book, browse the internet, write a poem, whatever.

On occasion that sounds nice. But usually I'd rather get somewhere faster than spending a lot more time in transit. And you can listen to music and podcasts while driving.

Only when you feel safe. I use public transport in Asia and do the listed things, but I wouldn't do that in NYC because I might get pickpocketed, for instance.