Tag car vs bus travel

In the United States, more than half of all trips taken are less than five miles long (source FHWA, 2022). It makes sense that many short trips could easily be done via active transportation (like walking and biking) or public transportation. So why are cars such a large part of our culture? The short answer is that the car industry and car-related road infrastructure has been prioritized historically, while infrastructure supporting active and public transportation has not been – often making the latter inconvenient, inconsistently available and unsafe.