Uploaded November 2015 | Updated September 2026, 37 minutes ago
If you’ve ever had the experience of waiting for a very late train, sitting on a broken-down bus for 45 minutes, or trying to navigate what would be a 20-minute drive on three different forms of public transit, you’ve probably wondered to yourself: Why does mass transit in the United States suck so much?
Well, we’ve wondered the exact same thing. We turned to two of Grist’s resident public transportation aficionados, Ben Adler and Heather Smith, to help us answer that question and also figure out how we can make all our buses and rails work for us, not against us. Watch our video above to learn more about how we became so car-obsessed, and why — even if you have to wait forever for it — it’s actually worth it to get on the bus.
If you’ve ever had the experience of waiting for a very late train, sitting on a broken-down bus for 45 minutes, or trying to navigate what would be a 20-minute drive on three different forms of public transit, you’ve probably wondered to yourself: Why does mass transit in the United States suck so much?
Well, we’ve wondered the exact same thing. We turned to two of Grist’s resident public transportation aficionados, Ben Adler and Heather Smith, to help us answer that question and also figure out how we can make all our buses and rails work for us, not against us. Watch our video above to learn more about how we became so car-obsessed, and why — even if you have to wait forever for it — it’s actually worth it to get on the bus.
