How extreme car dependency is driving Americans to unhappiness

[LisaM]

15. They are doing that in Seattle but also squeezing out the buses

in favor of light rail. And the light rail is a big snake through the city that does not stop near the grocery stores or theatres. Worse, it breaks down a lot. Every time they add an extension they strip bus routes. Most recently they got rid of a bus route that was a 20 minute ride from a transit center to a popular lake nearby and replaced it with a ride on light rail with a transfer to a bus that turned the trip into 48 minutes at best, stops farther away from the lake, and is dependent on the light rail not breaking down. Whoever is responsible for planning this needs to be put in jail.

They keep putting up huge apartments near the light rail with no surrounding neighborhood conveniences. They want us to transfer and wait at bus stops for long periods of time. Then they cut the buses.

I rarely use a car (we have one, which my partner takes to work because he has to, there is no transit there doesn't involve an hour and a half commute and a walk at night and he often leaves at 4:00 am before the light rail runs).

Having a car might make people unhappy but every time I am confronted with the length of time it takes for me to get anywhere on foot and transit combined, I get depressed. It's difficult and time consuming and half the sidewalks in Seattle are blocked off by the fucking endless construction.