Bryce

They definitely do not need the width of a car lane. The basket is usually the width of the handlebars so they fit in regular bike lanes just fine. And they’ll often turn a car lane into two bike lanes

Philips Hue have the ability to work without internet and it seems like a lot of people like them, though they are kind of expensive. I’ve used Sengled bulbs before and they were fine, not sure how well they work without internet. But I think for you the problem isn’t the bulbs reliance on the internet, they just seem very forgetful. For both Hue and Sengled, when the power comes back on after being out, they just start working again on their own after about a minute. No need to reset anything.

The main non-techy issue even for locally controllable smart things is that the big voice assistants are all entirely internet dependent. So even though Hue bulbs are technically controllable locally if your internet is out, Alexa and Google Home both won’t be able to do anything with them.

I think you’re pretty lucky if you’ve got an uncongested commute. For most places where people live a “driving” distance from work it generally gets pretty congested during rush hour.

For covering the benefits of a car, transit has some of its own benefits (mostly health benefits, but done right, travel time can be shorter), but I’ll go through why losing the benefits you’ve listed don’t worry me too much:

Direct line that can change route if necessary: my house and work are both close enough to transit stops that I essentially have a direct line from home to office. I’m not changing my route that often, but if I needed to get something on the way I’d rather just hop off and back on than have to find somewhere to park.

Ability to run late: I’ll mostly agree with you here in some cases, but the key is frequency. Missing a train and having to wait an hour for the next one sucks, but I’ve never thought about “missing” a subway, the next one will be there in like 2 mins. If you have to look at a schedule for transit, it’s doing a bad job. You should just show up and get whisked away in the next couple minutes when done right.

Strangers: fair, I don’t mind much, but if an issue for you then it’s an issue for you

Transporting things: The biggest thing I’m generally transporting is groceries, and I’ve never had a problem putting them on a bus (or more recently in my bike panniers, I was shocked at how much stuff you can fit in a pannier). But I also know a guy who brought a rowing machine home on transit, so if there’s a will there’s a way.

No interconnecting travel: I think this is only an issue if the connections are infrequent or badly timed. The same issue with “running late”. When I hop off a subway and get on another line at the same station I barely even think about it. And I almost think of this one as a benefit, walking to and from stops and at transfers is free exercise. Take enough transit and you’ll never have to use a treadmill in your life.

Multipurpose: I’ll give you mobile locker, that’s pretty nice (a bit expensive for my taste though). I think this goes back to the “stranger” point. I think shelters, benches, and lunch rooms should be public places. A public bench does a lot more good than a parking spot in my opinion.

While I agree there’s no way to get everyone out of their cars and onto public transit (short of banning cars), the goal is just to make it a viable alternative. Even as someone who would just rather drive, if public transit is fast, frequent, and reliable enough, other people might be convinced which reduces traffic for you

Fully rural driving is absolutely going to be faster than any attempt at transit can be. But most suburbs were built so people could live there and drive into the nearest city for work, so even if the driver lives in a suburban area, the longest part of their drive will almost certainly be the city bit. So I would argue for both cities and suburbs, transit can be faster than diving if done well.

True, but you’d probably be surprised at how often you’re actually stopped or going very slowly because of traffic when driving, especially in cities. If you compare the driving and transit times between most subway stops on Google Maps, the subway (closest thing to signal priority on a bus in most places) is almost always quicker

Busses/trams can hit 0 red lights and not get stuck in traffic if they have their own lanes and transit priority signals

Sounds to me like there’s a serial serial killer killer on the loose!!

Seems like it’s just a coincidence? Bird hunt worms by sound so Gary probably just thought “drums are loud”

Beeper is great