Did you seriously just suggest that San Francisco has "excellent" public transportation? Because, seriously, it doesn't: the Muni is one of the worst large systems in the country, and a lower percentage of residents use it than any comparable city.
What's worse, most people who work "in San Francisco" don't, and commuting to south bay is untenable without a car (and even with the car, a good half of the market is at least a 90 minute daily commute away from SOMA).
It seems to be fashionable to rag on Muni these days, but after living in two other urban cities, Muni is the best public transportation I've seen. It runs practically everywhere and is quite affordable and prompt.
Muni cars run on clean electric lines, and their busses are now electric hybrids. Each is outfitted with a GPS that updates boards at each stop to let you know in real-time how long before the next bus arrives. They have a phone number and a website that has this real-time info too. Hell, that website even has an iPhone version!
It costs 45 bucks a month to go anywhere you want. It runs 24 hours a day with plenty of frequency and services pretty much every inch of the city. What more can you ask for?
Ever checked out Atlanta's MARTA system? The bus service is random and wait times are often 30 minutes to 2 hours. Without a car, you're basically screwed.
Atlanta is not in a part of the US where people traditionally care much about things like being able to walk places, from what I've seen. My best experience with public transport has been in Portland, Oregon. In the US, at least - pretty much anyplace in Europe is better.
Sounds awesome. Last experience I had with the Muni involved buses skipping stops, lines being shut down with minimal notice, and busloads full of sweatshop textile workers. Maybe it's improved since then. But news.google.com doesn't think indicate that.
But then, GPS or no GPS, it's going to be hard to impress people from cities with real public transit systems with a bus; there's nowhere in NYC or Chicago you'd reasonably want to go that you can't get to on a train that runs every 5-15 minutes.
I agree with you, I wouldn't put Atlanta on my list of awesome public transit cities either.
Wait... you're complaining that you have to share the bus with other people who can't afford a car? Perhaps you'd prefer two separate systems, so we can reserve one for those who are just too cool to use cars? :/
The trains are fine. The big bus lines like the 38 are pretty good. Some of the other bus lines, like the 19 which goes through the tenderloin to SOMA are gross and can be unpredictable.
I lived in SOMA, so the bus I'm mostly thinking of is on Howard running downtown. It's possible things have gotten better. But I'd never take a bus anywhere in Chicago (or NYC); the trains go everywhere.
Then I'm wrong and I'm thinking of Folsom. I lived on Sumner, which is between Howard and Folsom. (Our offices were 2 blocks away, but my wife worked downtown).
MARTA is pretty good compared to where I'm living currently (I've been to Atlanta a fair bit). I really wanted to use the buses here, but the third time a scheduled bus just never came, I gave up. And that's hardly the only issue.
What's worse, most people who work "in San Francisco" don't, and commuting to south bay is untenable without a car (and even with the car, a good half of the market is at least a 90 minute daily commute away from SOMA).