I'm with you. Wearing a mask seems like not a huge deal (though I should note that folks on the spectrum may find the experience really unpleasant, and we should do what we can to support folks who aren't neurotypical.)
Try different masks, different styles. There's several different patterns for masks and finding the right one for your face helps a lot.
I also live in a NW Seattle neighborhood without sidewalks. Walking or biking a mile is not a problem for most folks? I understand if someone has a mobility impairment, or some other necessary accommodation. But a mile is not a long ways.
That's how you make a region suck for decades while your transit dream matures.
Building freeways gives you room for HOV lanes and busses, and even rail if you plan it right. Not building freeways is a demonstrably failed policy in the Sea-Tac region.
It's like how SF suspended the traditional criminal justice system before they had a working replacement. Sure, they'll get it right someday but in the meantime you just have to put up with a few decades of crime. But hey, one day it will be perfect and ideologically pure.
Private mass transit has been tried many times before. Read up on the damage it did to places like Santiago, Chile.
I know you haven't thought deeply and this is just an internet forum post, but how do you address:
1) Many riders don't have smartphones
2) How do casual riders know which vehicle to get on?
3) If a profitable route is found, how do you prevent companies from cutting under each other, cost wise? If you think public transit is uncomfortable, can you imagine what it would be like if there was a profit incentive?
4) how do you regulate safety standards and driver training?
5) public transit can afford to be flexible and not collect fares sometimes. You think private for profit companies will let folks skip paying a fare?
Etc etc etc. There are many, many practical reasons why it's much less efficient and desirable to have a number of private companies fighting over a natural monopoly.
In your points you assume privatized = unregulated, but nothing in the modern world is unregulated. You also assume privatized = not publicly funded. In other words, all of your points are strawmen and don't apply to modern privatization efforts.
In fact even in states that have public transportation, what they do is typically create an authority which is a GSE -- government sponsored enterprise -- to run the infrastructure. The vast majority of port, rails, etc are run by GSEs. The difference between a GSE style approach and privatization is that the GSE is awarded a monopoly for all routes that never changes. That creates a lot of disincentives for good performance and cost efficiency.
The rationale of privatization is that you let private businesses bid for contracts for fixed periods of time -- rather than just awarding a permanent contract for all routes to the GSE.
> I know you haven't thought deeply and this is just an internet forum post, but how do you address:
Ouch. I'd suggest that you could think some more about this issue as well.
NYC has lots of private mass transit providing value to many people without being subsidized to the insane degree public transit is. In fact, they're persecuted despite serving the low-income people the public system supposedly helps.
There's trucks backed up at the ports, waiting their turn. Part of it is old design and part of it is a lack of need to actually speed things up to still make money as the port authority.
I rode the bus, pre-covid. I'm wealthy and could easily afford to park at work with no noticable impact to my finances.
Is it so hard to believe that there are people who try to do the best thing for the greater good over their own self interest? Some folks, like me, choose a less comfortable experience because we believe in public transit.
Except for one location (Singapore) I’ve used light rail or busses, they generally ends up the type of place it isn’t safe to actually zone out. Anecdotally from friends, Seattle’s are worse than most.
It's grade separated pretty much all the way north to Northgate and beyond. (Which opened this year.) Northgate, Roosevelt, U District, UW, capitol Hill, all the downtown stops are all separated in tunnels/elevated rail.
It's at grade only in parts of SODO and South Seattle. The bulk is separated. Even when not, it takes priority at crossings and has it's own lanes that are rarely shared with cars.
Try different masks, different styles. There's several different patterns for masks and finding the right one for your face helps a lot.