I enjoy driving and the freedom it provides in being able to hope in and just go - but for going back and forth to work, I now take public transit. Kingston started, on 1 Sep, an Express bus service which made using public transit a viable option. Fewer stops and faster service for the outlying areas. It added less than ten minutes of time on a one way trip, but the gas savings is tremendous. Before the new service, it wasn't worth taking the bus at all. That, and monthly transit passes are also a permitted tax deduction making it an even better value.
I'm not sure where I fall on the poll. I'd happily take public transit for general daily use if there was anything local and reasonably priced, but where I live public transportation is a pipe dream at best, so I drive. Fortunately I really like driving most of the time, though repeated multi-hour trips in one week can be draining. When I learned about the clutch biting point it was a revelation for me for dealing with the (many) hills around here; I don't bother with the e-brake because once you let up on the clutch enough it keeps itself in place. Ahh, I miss driving stick.
I live on the peninsula, in San Mateo County. That's about a half an hour south of San Francisco, and yeah that's Caltrain territory. At least with Caltrain I know where they are stopping. I had to take the bus for maybe 15 years before I decided to learn to drive and now I can't believe I lasted that long. It took like 45 minutes to an hour to get from where I live to South San Francisco. Also, it would suck when I'm coming back, and I'm at a stop light and I see the next bus go through the intersection that I needed to be on and have to wait an hour before the next one comes. The only AC Transit I've been on was the express San Mateo Bridge bus. Those are nice, but then again they are express. Now the only reason I have to take public transit is if I go to a sporting event like a Giants game or Sharks game.
I sometimes wish I could get Greenie brownie points for not having a car. Where I live that is a big deal for a lot of the community. I've had people ask me if I'm car free because of the environment, so tempting to pull carbon footprint rank and come out on top with some folk. But I could not care less, I'm all about the saving money and not being personally burdened with a big hunk of ugly steel. I did laugh my ass off when we had a No War for Oil demonstration in my town and my neighbours drove to it, all of 5 minutes walk.
First option for me. I love driving and I do at a bare minimum 500km a week just to get to my job on the other side of Auckland, public transport is a joke around here and not an option for the work I do anyway. Having said that, I would gladly take public transport to get to places on my days off if it wasn't so craptastic around here, all we have is a bus service and even the train service in the city is woeful at best.
What amuses me is everyone loooves to bash the public transport in Melbourne. But venture overseas, or to another Aus city and it looks bloody fantastic. People have no idea.
The only Australian cities I have knowledge of are Adelaide and Hobart and I think they both have quite good public transport but I suppose it depends on where in those cities you live.
alas, not everywhere. In big cities it's good, but in the country there is next to no public transport at all. Often there is only 1 bus per day to the next larger town. Trains are derelict and filthy. Only on the major routes trains are clean and well-kept. Still a 1st class here is a good deal shabbier than a 2nd class on the line LA/Anaheim I don't have a car. Within the town and a radius of about 10 miles I go by bicycle (in every weather as there's no alternative). If I need to cover a larger distance I either try to combine the trip with a business trip and use my business car or I rent a car. Renting one when I need it is cheaper than having one and hardly ever using it. Driving would be fun over here (what with the lack of speed restrictions on teh highway =) ) if only the roads were in a better condition. The whole road net is rather a weave of potholes connected by narrow strips of concrete or tarmac
I only learnt to drive this year. I don't particularly like driving in the city - but the reality is I don't need to. I walk the forty minutes to work and I catch the bus or walk into the city centre if I need to. The freedom is in being able to get into the country whenever I want. To go make dinner on the beach or go camping or go on an impromptu holiday. I love that and I'll quite happily drive across the country to do it.
I'm not particularly enamored of driving, but I don't really mind it. I do hate sitting in traffic, though.
I love driving and I greatly miss it ever since I moved, since in my new city I usually walk or use the metro. That 10 minute drive back home in the bright, warm sunlight with my favorite music on was one of the best moments of my day in my old city.
I haven't used samTrans very much, but some of their routes strike me as oddly circuitous, and of course they get stuck in traffic frequently. Plus, they seem to operate as "suburban" to some degree, i.e. infrequent service that's very limited during off-peak times. Caltrain is pretty nice to ride, though I don't take it often. Of course, they're mired in a heap of logistical, operational, and funding problems, like most Bay Area transit agencies (and also, unique to Caltrain is its involvement in the ridiculous clusterfuck that is the California High Speed Rail planning situation along the peninsula corridor). Melbourne's transit looks pretty good from here (i.e. the perspective of a transit geek who's never actually been there. ). If nothing else, Southern Cross Station is really cool looking. What you are describing happens in a lot of places, though. No system is perfect, of course, but sometimes the grass just seems greener on the other side when it really isn't. Bay Area transit certainly isn't that great, there are a LOT of problems with just about all of the agencies here (not the least of which is the fact there ARE so many agencies), but I know things could be a lot worse. I can't really call it "bad", because if it truly was, relying on it entirely and eschewing a car wouldn't really be feasible. So it's not "bad", but like most places in the US, it's not really very "good" either. BART exemplifies this: it's a vital service that's pretty decent, though not always pleasant, when it's working well, but their upper management makes a lot of really terrible decisions and the system has no depth for getting around breakdowns and delays. Another interesting phenomenon is the disdain a lot of people have toward buses, while being ok with trains. It's even present to some degree in this thread. What most people don't realize is how few of the apparent differences between the two are actually inherent to the vehicle being a bus vs. being a train. The vast majority of differences are about how they are used, how they are maintained, and how they are perceived culturally. Matter of opinion, though. I personally really like the look of some cars (almost entirely modern ones), even though I don't drive and may never do so, but I've known people who just think all cars are generally ugly, with some being perhaps more "tolerable" than others.
I have no idea whether I used the handbrake -- we're talking about 40 years ago! Yes, if I'd learned to drive manual first, it probably would've been easier for me. But I learned on my father's car, and he had a weak leg from polio, so he had to have an automatic, even when they were less common.
I used to love it. I like riding better, in that I can allow my mind to wander, to look outside and enjoy seeing the world pass by.
I love driving. I wanted to drive more than anything from the age when I knew what a car was. I used to make my own steering wheels out of paper plates and sit int he back seat behind my dad and mimic his moves. I got my license at 17 as soon as I could. I enjoy riding my motorcycle even more since it helps me avoid a lot of the traffic issues that plague a driver in a car. It's just those pesky other people on the road who can sometimes make the experience less than enjoyable.
I hate being the passenger on a car. My two options are either extreme motion sickness or falling asleep like a drooling baboon. Riding on the back of motorbikes, on the other hand, is fun.