Quick Note: Cars and Suburbs Commoditize Location

Trains and big cities are more efficient on a typical cost basis than cars. The operating costs of trains are such that even the unsubsidized costs of big-city metros and bus networks are a fraction of those of cars. For example, New York City Transit, despite its high operating costs, manages to serve a linked trip for around $6, which works out to an annual cost per user of around $3,500, and if it had the cost structure of London or Berlin this would be $2,000 or a bit less than that; American cars average $7,000/car per year in private spending. And yet, cars have one singular advantage: they commoditize location. Public transit ideally works in large cities at specific locations, based on historic contingencies like national capitals, religious significance, or river crossings and harbors that may no longer be relevant with modern technology. It’s decommoditized, in that there is only one New York, one Philadelphia, one Chicago, etc., and the cost of moving is high. Public…