Does Anything Good Ever Really Come From Cars?

Does Anything Good Ever Really Come From Cars?
That’s the question I couldn’t stop asking myself on my way into Downtown Pittsburgh last week.

There I was, wedged into a packed city bus, crawling along in traffic behind an endless line of single-occupancy vehicles. All of us, thousands of people, heading to the same place, at the same time. But only some of us sharing space to get there. Ironically, the very people slowing us down, those in personal cars, stand to benefit the most from a more efficient, equitable transportation system.

And yet, there we sat.

What made it worse? We couldn’t even access the express busway because the entrance was clogged with traffic. Traffic made up almost entirely of people alone in their cars. If even a fraction of those drivers opted for public transit, just once a week, we’d all be moving faster. Buses would be more reliable. Streets would be calmer. Pollution would drop. And the cost of commuting, for everyone, would shrink.

This isn’t just about convenience. It’s about values.

Because here’s the gut punch: the very bus line I was riding; the one clearly serving countless Pittsburghers is at risk of being eliminated due to budget cuts. Meanwhile, funding flows freely for highway expansions, wider roads, and ever more space for cars. It’s a glaring contradiction. One mode gets us moving together; the other isolates us, clogs our arteries, and gets rewarded for it.

The truth is, we don’t have a funding problem. We have a priorities problem.

If we valued people more than pavement, we’d be investing in frequent, reliable public transit. We’d be designing cities that move, breathe, and connect. We’d stop confusing car convenience with freedom, and start building the kind of infrastructure that offers real freedom: the freedom to move safely, affordably, and sustainably, no matter who you are.

Until then, I guess we’ll just sit here.

But I hope we start asking different questions.