public transportation is good because...

• It's cheaper than a car. Definitely so. Back home, I spent close to $80 on gas each month; here, 80 kuai covers one month of bus fare to and from work.
• It's convenient. I walk 5 minutes to the bus stop in the morning, and it drops me off at the front door of my office. Also, I live just above a metro stop, so all I have to do is walk downstairs in order to be taken to the center of town. The inconvenient bit is that public transportation stops running between 9 and 11 at night. After that, your only option is to walk or take a taxi.
• It's better for the environment. At least it's supposed to be, though emissions standards here seem much more relaxed than in the States – to say the least. I'm always a bit skeptical that a bus of 30 people creates less exhaust than half as many cars when I hear the bus groan and see a thick black plume of smoke trailing behind it.
• It saves time. Well, that's true if your only other option is to take a taxi and it's raining and therefore all the cabs that drive by are full. Otherwise, public transportation usually takes more time than driving. A 20 minute cab ride can end up taking one hour by bus or subway. Still, if you're not in a rush, it's the cheaper and more environmentally friendly option to take.
• It's public. It's available to the masses. It provides mobility to millions of people who otherwise might not have access to other parts of the city or even country. The downside to this, of course, is that those millions of people are the ones cramming you against the back wall of the subway or jostling you to get to the back of the bus.

Don't get me wrong; I think public transportation is great. And I think public transportation in Austin and in most places in the States definitely needs to be improved. But sometimes I do miss having a car. I like being able to drive around whenever I want, being at the mercy of my own schedule, and going exactly where I want to go, with the only detours being a result of my getting lost and driving in circles, as admittedly happens quite often. I like listening to the music I want to listen to, rather than to yet another teen pop princess with a pearly face and a voice made for KTV. And I like being able to roll the windows down and breathe in the fresh Austin air, without pollution or the constant honking of horns to spoil the drive.