Gas Prices Hit Record High Averaging Over $5 a Gallon in California

[rachel83az]

This is actually more of a theory than reality!  I agree, if one lives in a major city, such as Berlin, there surely is a good public transportation network, but in other parts of the country, there is often not even a proper bus connection. Throughout high school, I lived in a 20,000-people town right outside of Berlin (which I would not consider "rural") and I usually had to wait an hour or two for the next bus to come around.. A car is definitely needed!

I've lived in both the US and in Germany and, let me tell you, German public transport is still way better. I used to live in a major US city, roughly equivalent to living in Berlin itself. Having to wait an hour for a bus was extremely common. There were no trams, trains, etc. Biking was faster than the bus in many instances, but good luck with that. Bike lanes don't really exist and, even if they do, it's dangerous to use them because so many drivers take offense to people on bikes. They've got the whole car lane (and probably the lane next to them) free, but they'll still ride close enough to the bike lane to sideswipe you with their mirrors.

If you don't live in a major US city, you might not even have taxi service. There is definitely no good transport between nearby towns/cities.

German public transport may not be great, but it's still impressive from an American point of view.