I live in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia (about 12km north of the city centre). We (my girlfriend and myself) live maybe 500m from the nearest train station, but we drive to work in the city every morning. Why?
Between the two of us, we have to pay roughly $11 each day to catch the train to and from work. By contrast, it costs us roughly $50 to fill the car, and that usually lasts us around 3 weeks of driving to and from work every work day. We can park for free within a 10-15 minute walk of where we work in the city centre.
Paying for a train ticket does not get you a seat on the train. By the time the train reaches our stop, it is typically standing room only. There have been mornings where we haven't even been able to get onto the train.
The trains here are so woefully maintained (they're still diesel) that you can't see out of most of the windows.
Maybe I'm getting old, but I don't really want to listen to some delinquent kid blasting American hip hop crap out of his mobile phone (cell phone) at top volume all the way into town under the false assumption that his taste in music is so exquisite that everyone on the train needs desperately to be exposed to it.
Having a crowd of people physically push you out of the way in order to beat you onto the train is not a pleasant way to start your day.
If we want to catch the train, we leave the house around 7am to drive to the station (the distance isn't walkable, due to weird development issues going on where we live), and we arrive in the city at about 8am. When we drive, we can leave the house around 7am and we're in the city by 7.20am.
The trains here are notoriously unreliable. In summer, the tracks buckle from the heat and we can be left stranded in an un-airconditioned train carriage (no openable windows) for an hour or more. I'd rather be at home spending time with my girlfriend than on a hot train with some fat dude's sweaty armpit shoved in my face.
There are other reasons, but I think I've made my point. Even when we factor in the costs of owning our car (insurance, registration, etc), it is cheaper to drive to work. Even if we didn't drive to work, we'd need a car anyway. And even if it wasn't cheaper to drive, it would be worth the additional cost to save my sanity. The drive is pleasant and quick, the car is warm in winter and cool in summer, I get to listen to whatever music I like, and I'm guaranteed a seat every morning.
If the state government here wants us to be greener (I can only assume that they don't), here's some advice: upgrade your public transport. We pay enough for it.
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There are other reasons, but I think I've made my point. Even when we factor in the costs of owning our car (insurance, registration, etc), it is cheaper to drive to work. Even if we didn't drive to work, we'd need a car anyway. And even if it wasn't cheaper to drive, it would be worth the additional cost to save my sanity. The drive is pleasant and quick, the car is warm in winter and cool in summer, I get to listen to whatever music I like, and I'm guaranteed a seat every morning.
If the state government here wants us to be greener (I can only assume that they don't), here's some advice: upgrade your public transport. We pay enough for it.
Perhaps the OP never made a mistake and never needed to insert a line.
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