Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Published: Nov 2026

Thoughts on transportation and what is lost in the pursuit of efficiency

Something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently is transportation infrastructure–I know, riveting stuff, right? As I start writing this, my thoughts on the matter are messy and tangled, much like our own public transit systems in the US. Transit is a hard problem to solve: there are so many different constraints and objectives. Managing cost, efficiency, accessibility, etc. across multiple modes of transportation is non-trivial. So as much as this is a critique, I do understand that there’s no perfect system. We’re always going to be frustrated by the step between us and our destination, that’s human nature. But maybe we can get further, as a collective, if we stop treating that as a purely frictional step.

Before diving into this, it’s important to consider where I’m coming from and how that influences my perspective. I live in DC, a city with decent public transportation options. There are buses and trains easily accessible to me, and while public transit may not always be the best option for where I want to go, it usually is an option. That said, a lot of our infrastructure is explicitly and primarily designed for cars. From wide streets to parking, highways that cut through and around the city, there are numerous places that I can only practically reach by driving. On the other hand, I recently went on a trip to Switzerland and Milan that was entirely car-free. There were points that made that difficult, despite having the luxury of a relaxed vacation pace, but a lot of my thoughts will be colored by that experience.

Are we too focused on speed?

This might seem like a bit of an obtuse question: what could be better than fast transportation? In fact, until recently, I probably would have thought the same. There are two factors that have changed that opinion:

1. Being a parent has made me realize that the time actually sitting on a train/bus/whatever is far less frustrating than the time navigating between and waiting for the legs of my journey. While pushing around a stroller, things that would have been minor inconveniences turn into real barriers (broken elevator, blocked intersections, etc.), and navigating unexpected pitfalls is infinitely more tiring than sitting an extra couple minutes on the train.

2. Taking more multi-leg journeys, whether transferring in the DC metro or onto an historic funicular going up the Swiss alps, has left me increasingly frustrated over a delay at the platform vs the time spent in transit. There is a mental load associated with those transfers that ends up being rather stressful. The Swiss journey was relaxing not because they had fast trains, but because they were reliable. Knowing exactly when the train would come–and that I could actually count on a quick transfer–took out a major stressor.

Altogether, there are aspects of the trip that I’ve begun to realize are just as important as the overall speed. There is a mental component to all this: things that reduce your mental load make a huge difference in the journey that isn’t really captured if you’re just optimizing for efficiency. Reliability is a big one–taking uncertainty and guesswork out of the equation really reduces the friction of travel.

A less obvious one is aesthetics and the design around the trains/buses/etc. themselves. I think this one might be a bit controversial…a lot of people want their trains to be fast and functional, not pretty. “Sure pretty is nice, but I have places to be!” I contend that a beautiful and well-designed train station is not only more pleasant to spend time in but also a substantially improved experience overall. As I’ve said above, the time waiting and/or navigating a station can be the most frustrating, so making that experience more pleasant makes a difference. 

This connects to an idea I touched on briefly at the introduction: reframing the journey itself as an experience rather than an obstacle. Now, obviously I don’t expect a daily commute to match up to a panoramic train through the mountains. However, small improvements can make even a commuter train far more pleasant to be on. This experiential factor is something I think gets overlooked quite a bit. Aesthetics, cleanliness, clear signs/maps, direct transfer paths, etc. may not shorten the journey time, but they make that journey less painful (maybe even pleasant?).

Ultimately, I think we underrate the value of convenience compared to pure speed/efficiency. As is, there are numerous barriers to our public transit infrastructure beyond the train/bus itself. Everything I’ve discussed above reduces the stress and frustration of transit, which in an ideal world could be much easier than driving yourself. It’s interesting that, in America, cars are often thought of as enabling freedom. While they do enable you to go nearly anywhere (provided there are sufficient and well-maintained roads), they require active effort for the entire journey. Meanwhile, good public transport could provide a different kind of freedom–where you easily map out your trip, don’t have to worry about unreliable transfers, and can instead sit back and just enjoy the trip. In the end, I think most people would choose an easy 40 minute journey over a stressful 30 minute one–exchanging the headaches of navigation, traffic, finding parking etc. for some free time to read a book, listen to a podcast, or just relax.

A Case Study Close to Home: Streetcars and Stadiums

I would like to take some time now to discuss a more local and less abstract situation. Recently, there have been some substantial changes in Northeast DC that have triggered and contributed to my thoughts on transit. For one, the H st corridor streetcar has been discontinued. At the same time, there is a major upcoming renovation of RFK stadium, which sits at one end of the streetcar route.

Though the two changes are correlated, that is a coincidence rather than a causal relationship. It is frustrating to think of the transportation problems around this new stadium that could have been solved by the streetcar, but at the same time, there were clear issues that prevented the streetcar from being viable in its current form.

So why did the streetcar fail? My view, a common one, is that DC tried to compromise between mass transit and private car infrastructure, in the end ceding the potential of the streetcar in order to avoid inconveniencing drivers. Specifically, the streetcar ran on regular roads (with built-in rails) alongside regular automobiles. Now, in a perfect world, this might work ok. In practice, without dedicated lanes, errant drivers, double- or mis-parked vehicles, and delivery trucks constantly disrupted the streetcar. Shared lanes and an inability to adjust the path meant that any obstacle required the streetcar to come to a complete stop and wait.

In principle, the streetcar was everything I wanted: a whimsical mass transit solution along an underserviced corridor. In practice, riders often had to navigate parked cars to board and then simply hope that there would be no disruptions. Now we are left facing a major redevelopment that should bring a lot more traffic to the eastern end of that corridor, with no good way to actually access the stadium besides driving or taking a metro line from downtown. The metro is actually a fine solution for those it services, but it comes from an entirely different direction, making it a rather cumbersome journey from the NE parts of DC–despite being within 1-2 miles of the stadium!

There is some hope though: a new plan has been proposed which centers buses with dedicated central lanes. The idea is to build a light rail style system using buses in dedicated, car-free lanes. The proposal is still being discussed, but I’m cautiously optimistic. This kind of system has been successful in many places, in the US and around the world. It could achieve a lot of the features–convenience, reliability, etc.--that I’ve argued are important. I’m hopeful that the lessons from the streetcar failure are taken to heart and improved upon…I’d hate to see a good idea fail because we lack the willpower to carry it out. Over-accomodation of drivers is the main obstacle I foresee, especially since it’s simply not viable for everyone to drive to and from the stadium. That would be a traffic nightmare nearly everyday, painful for not only the people attending events but also the local community that has to suffer unreasonably high car throughput. 

Photo Gallery

Some supporting evidence for my arguments regarding aesthetics and design: a nice view, whether natural beauty or artistic design, makes for a more pleasant journey!