Dude, great post!

That is a truly unpopular opinion.

And, you aren't wrong about most of it! The only thing I'd disagree with is the relative importance of the issue. Even that's only because we're at a tipping point where shit is getting close to being impossible to fix.

I agree that there's a shit ton of zealotry around the subject, and that public transportation is not the answer to the problem everywhere. Folks that live in rural areas simply can't use public transport because it doesn't exist. It doesn't exist because there's got enough tax base to support it. And there's not enough population to use it even if it was economically feasible. That means that you're still causing the same amount of pollution unless the area can support electric bases transport, which isn't always possible.

And, you're dead on with public transport not being safe everywhere. Even in fairly stable cities with good levels of security personnel have troubles. All you have to do is check places like r/subwaycreatures used to be, or publicfreakouts, or the lemmy equivalents, and you'll see that even in places with great subway or bus service, you aren't guaranteed a safe ride.

And places with less security? There's way too many stories of women being damn near raped on busses in countries around the world to pretend that humanity is trustworthy in tight, cramped busses and trains.