- If public transport arrives and departs often enough, you don't have to plan your life around the transport.
- If the public transport network is large enough, you can eliminate the "last mile" problem, either by making it short enough to walk quickly or by connecting backbones to local distribution. Classic example, train + bus.
Of course the Bay Area has nothing close to this kind of network, but you said "the best solution", and I'm pretty convinced an idealized public transport system is much better than driverless cars. Superior passenger density, superior fuel efficiency, superior materials usage, etc.
what you have described - big enough a network, running often enough, etc - are all the properties of the driverless car. In effect, the public transport system no longer consists of trains/buses, but a huge pool of driverless cars you hail.
The difference is the cost. Public transport has superior fuel, space, and materials usage.
Another difference is that public transport is a known working solution which has been implemented with great success in many cities since the 19th century. While driverless cars is something we just now is getting the technology to build so it is untested.
I disagree.
- If public transport arrives and departs often enough, you don't have to plan your life around the transport.
- If the public transport network is large enough, you can eliminate the "last mile" problem, either by making it short enough to walk quickly or by connecting backbones to local distribution. Classic example, train + bus.
Of course the Bay Area has nothing close to this kind of network, but you said "the best solution", and I'm pretty convinced an idealized public transport system is much better than driverless cars. Superior passenger density, superior fuel efficiency, superior materials usage, etc.