I take the bus to work in the most ideal conditions and it's not great. Sometimes the bus is full and I end up spending 40 minutes standing up in the isle to get to work, which doesn't help my leg that I injured. On some bus routes the bus just doesn't show up sometimes for half an hour or an hour because "so what" or something. There's one bus that claims to run according to both google maps and the online schedule but I've sat waiting for it and it never shows up. I thought taking the bus would be relaxing, but instead I have to be constantly vigilant so I don't miss my stop. Our buses have shades on the windows so you don't get hit by bright sunlight but in practice it means that not only do I not get to be outside during the day, I don't even get to see it like I would in my car.

I spend about 50% more time to get to work on the bus, on the ideal direct-to-downtown bus route. If your company isn't downtown that time skyrockets, when I was living in phoenix a 20 minute drive in my car was an hour long bus ride. Put in a transfer or two and you can bump a 30 minute drive up to a 2 hour bus experience.

I need to look at apartments but I can't because they're only open for showings during the middle of the day and I don't have a car with me at work. When I need to see the doctor similar deal. I "get" to walk through the skyway system which in minneapolis feels like you're walking on a moon-horror-movie set.

I mostly hear "oh, take the bus!" from people who aren't actually using it for their day-to-day transportation. People who do use it realize it rather sucks compared to a car and adequate parking, not that that's a great solution either but the bus is even worse.

P.S. I forgot the constant neurosis you have to be in if you're not travelling during rush hour times. You get to the bus stop, bus only runs every hour, you're 5 minutes past when it came by. Stand outside waiting for 50 minutes in the weather, hoping that it does actually show up and isn't one of those "decided not to do the stop this time" cases...