You can't generalize about public transport across the whole of the USA. It's very variable between different cities, and some have pretty good systems.

Depends on the bus / area.

There is real time bus tracking now in most places so you can see when things will arrive = WAY better for dealing with traffic (note traffic is a thing for cars as well)

I’m in Portland OR and of course a bus going through a bad area is more likely to have people who are “not ok” (addicts) but the vast majority of our busses are clean and climate controlled and filled with perfectly lovely friendly people.

And risk assessment is based on what is likely. My aunt smoked her whole life and never got lung cancer so my “personal experience” is that smoking doesn’t cause cancer. You see what I’m saying?

Cars are more dangerous than busses. Period. You might not like them for any number of perfectly valid reasons, and a specific bus in a specific area might be more dangerous - but the point of the post is that personal preference and accurate risk assessment are not the same thing.

It's not really a choice for people. I get up at 3am and wait an hour for the bus just to be on time at 6am.

Can't do much and any job requires a license even if isn't driving related - which instantly nullifies me if I use other acceptable forms of identification.

Public transport is definitely safer, just more eventful. It's nice when you enter a train that smells like fecal matter with a lady just eating a whole rotisserie chicken on the other side. It just follows the same guidelines as other public spaces, don't be a nuisance and make yourself small. It becomes entertaining to have these stories.

Some lady didn't know to just shut up and complained nonstop about the shit on the floor. But then she made a comment about the lady and her chicken, it was small and innocuous. She then kept talking to the conductor.

However, that is how you get slammed after you got stunned by some airborne rotisserie chicken.

So it's usually okay, just has rules like any house.