Originally Posted by worker4youth
Well, my experience is that, even in LA, where traffic tends to be horrific, for trips > 5 miles, if speed is paramount, even in rush hour, driving is nearly always a bit faster. You have to take into account walking to/from the station, an the various stops the train/bus makes. Exceptions are: when there are accidents and the whole freeway is blocked.
I would say that even riding a bike is faster than a bus in inner city areas. I recently was going to take a bus with Tony and Jerry, but the bike rack was full. i rode my bike and waited five minutes for them at the transfer station. The rack was full on the next bus, and I beat them to their destination two miles away by at least 5 minutes. Of course, the bus would probably win out in the suburbs, if you didn't count time spent waiting for it at the bus stop.