One of my private experiments while travelling in the United States, over the previous month, was to see how successfully I could manage my trip without private motorcars (including taxis). As a result I deliberately didn't take any taxis (although I did consider it a couple of times), and never hired a car (although again I did consider it once; I've never actually driven in the USA, despite having once rented a car in Berkeley). There were a few trips in private motorcars, as discussed below.

In the context of angst about public transport in Wellington, including turning Manners Mall into a bus corridor and the seemingly endless "buses replacing trains" work on the railway lines (which has been going on for at least 18 months that I remember, without apparent end in sight), it seems interesting to compare the supposedly public transport hostile USA with Wellington. (Admittedly this is a biased comparision, because I went only to cities in the USA which do have pretty good public transport; I've been to poorer served cities in the USA in the past.)

New York, NY

The airport hotel required taking a shuttle bus to and from the airport; if we count this a "public transport" bus, then I used no private vehicles in New York. (The bus was sized as a small city bus, with additional luggage space, and did a circuit of the airport terminals and airport hotels, so even though it was privately run it seems reasonable to count it as "public" transport.)

After a pair of trips in the airport hotel shuttle bus (airport to hotel; sleep; hotel to airport), I took the AirTrain to the nearest major subway station, and then the subway into Manhattan. The trip was about as quick as driving would have been (given the traffic), and cost much less (although the Airtrain itself costs twice the subway fare, and there is no transfer available).

Within Manhattan I walked, or took the subway. The subway offers transfers to a single bus, but otherwise is pay-per-trip (or buy a day/week/month pass); one suggested hack is to take the subway in one direction, and then use the transfer, within a couple of hours, to return via bus, but I walked one direction and took the subway back. Being a very walkable city definitely helps.

To get to the airport for my flight out, I took the subway to Queens and then a local bus, which I think was a single fare for both (the transfer is in the form of not charging for the second trip, rather than a receipt, and I didn't use the metrocard again so I'm not certain what I was charged). Other than a relatively long connection for the bus (I think I just missed the previous bus), and the bus being crowded with passengers with luggage, it worked fine.

Private vehicle trips: 0.

Portland, OR

The Max Red Line runs from the airport all the way into town, including directly past my hotel; an "all zones" pass was all that was required for the trip with less than 100m walk at each end. Again the trip seemed approximately as fast as driving.

Portland's bus system runs fairly regularly (10/12/15/20 minute intervals mostly), and offers paper transfers good for at least 1.5 hours (and sometimes more). With some careful planning an entire trip can be made for a single fare, and that's certainly true for one direction even if it involves multiple forms of public transport. All the trips within the city limits were easily acomplished by walking or by bus (or some combination of both).

Two more touristy trips required a private car -- going to Cannon Beach and Multnomah Falls -- and mostly I got to go because there were friends of friends willing to drive us there and back. (I think it might have been possible to get a tour bus to Multnomah Falls, but there didn't seem to be any public transport options.) Other than those two trips (and associated shopping, lunch, etc) there was only one more private car trip in Portland, which was a ride back to my hotel after seeing Hopeless; it was close enough that I could have walked, and I had originally intended to take a bus, but the timing didn't work out well for the bus so I accepted the offer of a ride.

Leaving Portland was acomplished by two buses (one fare; yay transfers!) to the Amtrak station (where I arrived far too early, expecting that there'd be much more formality than there actually turned out to be). The Amtrak Cascades trip to Seattle was scenic enough that the relatively slow pace didn't matter.

Private vehicle trips: 3.

Seattle, WA

I was met in Seattle by a friend of a friend, and given a lift to my hotel and a bit of a tiki tour around Seattle. Parts of that could have been accopmlished by public transport (eg, with a bit of planning I'm certain I could have gotten to my hotel by a couple of buses, for a single fare), but other parts were pretty much only accessible by car. It might have been possible to do everything through some combination of public transport and walking, but it would have taken much longer.

Friday when I visited various friends started with a bus trip across Lake Washington which successfully deposited me only a few hundred metres from where I needed to be, for a single fare. But after that there were three private vehicle trips before I got back to my hotel. I think one or two of those could have been done via public transport with some more planning and delay, but the third one in the early hours of the moring seemed pretty unlikely to be possible via public transport (and indeed became a problem by car when it turned out that parts of a major Freeway were closed for maintenance!).

I took advantage of the fare-free bus zone in Seattle a few times, and I think I eventually figured out the pay-on-entry/pay-on-exit variations on the bus (depending on whether it was heading into or out of the fare free zone). They also issued transfers, although I never had a reason to use them.

Leaving Seattle was accomplished by a bus and then light rail to SEATAC Airport, for two fares. (If I'd had a smart card I think it would have been just the higher of the two fares, but for a single trip it didn't seem worth the hassle so I didn't investigate it; even the combined fare was cheaper than most of the other airport trips I took via public transport.) That trip also seemed nearly as fast as driving.

Private vehicle trips: 4.

San Francisco, CA

A few years ago San Francisco extended the BART out to the airport. There is a regular (every 20 minutes?) subway that goes directly from the airport through the central city and into the East Bay; one of the downtown stops was about 100m from my hotel so it was an easy trip, although fair expensive as departing/arriving at the airport stop has an additional toll (about $5).

The BART and MUNI bus and street car system in San Francisco made it very easy to get around, although I avoided the pricey touristy cable cars (which always seemed to have huge queues, despite the high prices). BART doesn't issue transfers (and there are no transfers between BART and MUNI), but you can -- and often have to outside peak hours -- change train mid journey without additional charge, since the BART charge is based on distance between origin and destination. MUNI gives transfers that work on both the buses and streetcars, and I took advantage of this several times including treating the buses and streetcars as cheap self-guided tour buses.

Returning to the airport was another ride on the BART, which goes straight to the International terminal -- so I had only about 100m walk at each end of the trip.

Private vehicle trips: 0.

USA Summary

In total that means 7 private vehicle trips, in just under a month, which is less than I'd normally have taken at home, while spending more time "out and about". It worked out better than I'd expected. With a little effort I could probably have avoided some more of those trips.

It was great to be in cities like New York, Portland and San Francisco where the public transport is intended for, and used by, everyone and thus runs in a fairly regular, reliable, fashion. (Cities where public transport is only for those who can't afford something better tends to be infrequent and poorly run; unfortunately I understand all too many USA cities are like that, and I've encountered a few myself.)

Back home

My trip had two more private vehicle trips, as I got a lift to and from my house which was very convenient -- and much cheaper than a taxi. It is now reasonably possible to make that trip via public transport since the Airport Flyer bus finally runs regularly most of the day between the Airport and downtown (it used to be very infrequent). But it involves paying two fares (no transfers possible), and walking 10-15 minutes with a suitcase. So in the "possible, but not especially easy" category.

Overall it was an interesting experiment, and I think I'd do it again (even if one day it might be fun to drive around bits of the USA, and see things that are outside the easy public transport reach). It also makes me miss things like public transport transfers, which Wellington has never had (and shows no signs of getting in a hurry, even though the Snapper Smart Card was effectively made compulsory to pay for bus fares, and the fares are zone based, which would seem ideally suited to transfers). Given transfers, and a bit more frequency on most of the routes (every 15 minutes or less) I think public transport would be a more practical option for more people. I hope the infill housing means that we reach the population density to make that possible.