> Everybody loves public transit until they get panhandled for the jillionth time

Everyone loves driving until they have to:

* Pay through the nose for parking.

* Pay through the nose for tolls.

* Pay through the nose for gas, maintenance, insurance.

* Replace a car that they can't afford to keep running.

* Are stuck in endless traffic hell that them and all the other drivers on the road have created.

* Are seriously injured or killed by a reckless/drunk/idiot/inattentive/unlucky driver.

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The first bullet point in particular drives people into a frothing rage. Drivers, as a group, are incredibly and irrationally entitled to free storage of their cars on public/private space.

The last bullet point is far more likely to happen to you in a car, than you are to be assaulted on a bus or train. Across my immediate family, I can count three serious crashes (Only one of which the family member in question was at fault for). None of us have ever been assaulted on public transit, and we've taken a lot of it.

If my direct connection bus came back - or at least bus frequency were increased - (Thanks, budget cuts, for adding a 10-25 minute transfer to my downtown to downtown commute), my car would once again be collecting dust in the garage.

People take transit when its relatively fast and gets them to where they need to go. That's the primary driver for ridership.