> If the public transport systems were that good, why would anyone need to drive in?
There is a question there about should the people already there have to accomodate people who want to live elsewhere and still enjoy the ammenity of the big city.
I personally err on the side of the people who live in the suburbs shouldn't dictate the built form to the people who live in the city.
If they want the visitors (and they do as you can hear from the pained howling about work-from-home, and before then about suburban malls) the answer is a big yes, you need to accommodate visitors. (Notably different than outright dictating the built form but ignore at your own peril.)
It is admittedly an awkward to do a proper 'transition' from cars in less dense areas to transit stations. in ways that parking lots and garages alone leave some problems.
I don't think anyone is saying the people from the suburbs can't visit. Just that they should visit the built form that makes cities great for people that live there. This also benefits the people that visit - because it makes cities great once you step out of the car!
Nobody from NYC visits rural Idaho expecting a 24/7 subway system to be provided for them.
>If the public transport systems were that good, why would anyone need to drive in?
People take transit method A if it's better than transit method B no matter how shitty A is in absolute terms. And the US has invested 50 years into car infrastructure so it's pretty good actually. For example, Tokyo has a famously good public transit system and 70 minute one way commute time on average. NYC is half that.
> If the public transport systems were that good, why would anyone need to drive in?
Edge cases and laziness. For two thirds of my trips, I can and do take public transportation. For the remaining third, I'm some combination of lazy, needing to maintain a phone call or going between points inadequately served by public transit.
I was in NYC yesterday. I had a somewhat heavy carryon and had to deal with a few too many staircases. I could not determine where the elevators and escalators were easily. I am sure that information exists, but countless subway stations are inaccessible. Buses are far more accessible.
It's a tragedy of the commons. If everyone took the bus, it would be a lot faster for everyone, but any individual gets there faster by using a car, so they do.
