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Comment by rayiner | Hacker News Reader

There are no American cities with “decent public transportation.” NYC, DC, and Chicago are the only candidates. The first two used to be good, but have fallen off a cliff due to deferred maintenance. The latter is pretty good but inaccessible from vast swaths of the city.

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I live downtown Minneapolis. I own a condo and there are literally at least 4+ different bus stops right outside on the corners of my building going just about anywhere in and outside the cities (Costco, Aldi, Grocery Stores, Movie Theaters, Home Depot, etc...). Target, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's are within a couple blocks walk.

The light rail is 1 block away and goes directly to University of Minnesota or Mall of America with stops between.

During the winters, rain, or bad weather, the entrance to the Skyway is across the street.

I don't see how it can get any better.

I sold my car and lease out my parking spot for $150/month. I have a Metro Transit GoToCard [0] I fill up with $20 or weekly/monthly day passes.

[0] https://www.metrotransit.org/go-to-card

You forgot to qualify that with "for all residents". If you live in the inner suburbs of Minneapolis and work downtown public transit is pretty good for getting you to work. You will still need/want a car for grocery trips but one car will cover the entire family so you won't need a second. Thus in Minneapolis public transit is subsided transport for the rich - from the perspective of those who do not have a job downtown. (of course the poor also ride public transit, but they don't live in the suburbs)

>You will still need/want a car for grocery trips

Yea, exactly, there is no good public transit, anywhere, in America.

There are cities throughout Europe and Asia where the thought of needing a car to get groceries is comical - the grocery store is right there, or a short hop on a bus/metro away, and it comes every 3 minutes so no big deal.

The USA desperately needs infrastructure help.

Having been to Europe I can report that a fair number of people do not need or have a car. I can also report that a large number of people have a car and consider it essential to get around - they don't live in the big cities.

There are certainly places you can live (even relatively affordable ones!) that you can have this in the US.

I live in Chicago within a 3 minute walk I have my choice of Jewel/Osco or Trader Joe's (which are both right by an L stop, so they're accessible to other people near the L as well). An extra few minutes and I can go to Target. An extra 10 minutes and I can walk to Whole Foods or Mariano's.

My rent isn't super low (~1650/month + electricity for a ~700 sq ft 1 br; parking would be $200+ extra if I had a car) but a CTA pass is only $100 / month and it's pretax. Of course not every part of Chicago is like this.

Or you just get your grocery shopping delivered at home.

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