It seems to me that your "objectively better in every way" is subjective.
If it were objectively better in every way, I'd give my car up obviously.
But there's the _small_ matter of major inconvenience with places inaccessible by public transport, erratic public transport, bad last-mile solutions with private transportation waiting to fleece us for all we're worth, leaving me questioning my life choices when the last mile costs 10x what 90% of the journey cost me in public transport, not to mention the overall experience of having to switch between multiple modes of transport each way.
Climate change...yes, but I'm not altruistic enough to go through this everyday.
> But there's the _small_ matter of major inconvenience with places inaccessible by public transport, erratic public transport, bad last-mile solutions with private transportation waiting to fleece us for all we're worth,
Where do you live? I see places becoming inaccessible by car due to missing parking places and traffic jams and just love to take a bike / scooter / public transport (which could be much better even if we'd put more focus there, and would also help the poorer people) or by feet. The very few occasions I need a car could be handled by car sharing or delivery services.. I regret having bought one (:
I think it depends on, as you suggested, the location one lives. I think it is safe to say that if one has a family and live in the North America, there are few places, if there is any, that you can live a comfortable life without cars.
I live in a city with advanced public transit system (of course, comparing to other NA apparently, not other continents). Theoretically, I can go around without much driving. But there are always moments that driving a car helps a lot. One example is going to Costco. A second example is to lay one's feet 50+ kms away from home. A third one is to go to a clinic whenever I would like.
Cars enable flexibility. I think it's pretty hard to convince people to drop it, UNLESS the culture completely changes. Culture change would bring economical and political changes as well -- but that's a multi-decade process. This is why, may I say, that a car free policy is practically impossible for most, if not every NA city.
If it were objectively better in every way, I'd give my car up obviously. But there's the _small_ matter of major inconvenience with places inaccessible by public transport, erratic public transport, bad last-mile solutions with private transportation waiting to fleece us for all we're worth, leaving me questioning my life choices when the last mile costs 10x what 90% of the journey cost me in public transport, not to mention the overall experience of having to switch between multiple modes of transport each way.
Climate change...yes, but I'm not altruistic enough to go through this everyday.