To be fair to the parent poster as well, almost everyone within the 5000km2 around Zurich is within a couple minutes walk of public transport.

It is really is quite remarkable. However, I think this is enabled by expensive high density apartment housing.

Americans would consider the apartment sizes inhumane and a supermajority of the population are locked out of our owning a home.

You are making the argument that Americans would consider it inhumane to live in Swiss apartments because they are too small?

I was being hyperbolic, but yes, I think they would consider them too small and too old. Many would simply be illegal in the US due to their lack of amenities.

Sorry, but the Swiss are excellent builders. I would guess there is a big cultural difference between where Americans and Europeans(in general) spend their days. I would guess Americans spend their days at home watching television while Swiss in particular are more outdoorsy and do a lot more activities.

I don't know why you think there are fewer amenities here than in the US. What specific amenities do you think are lacking?

a 15 minute walk from me there are public baths(free, including the amazing Limmat river with crystal clear water), hiking(free), amazing bars, night clubs and restaurants.

Switzerland in its entirety is less than 10% of California and smaller than San Bernardino county.

That said, US Metro cores are denser than anything in CH but have worse transit, demonstrating the importance of door to door analysis. Nobody wants to commute via mixed private and public transport.

I think it's difficult for Europeans to grasp the size of the US.

Texas alone is twice the size of Germany - which is really crazy.

Why would that be difficult?

An intuitive grasp of the size of the US eludes a lot of Americans, let alone a lot of Europeans.

When an American says, "that is a three-day drive", they don't mean it will take three days of six hours a day with breaks every hour or two. They mean it will take three days of driving 12+ hours a day with 10-minute breaks every three or four hours. NY to LA is around 41 hours of actual driving per Google. So three consecutive 14-hour days just in the car, not counting getting a hotel room along the way, eating, using the bathroom, showering...

It was said specifically while in this discussion, directed at me. I travel world wide for work, 350 days a year. I know exactly how big the globe is. That I would drive across a continent is ludicrous.

That many American cities are these monstrosities where car travel is the only way to navigate is because of poor design not out of necessity. The American car industry managed to halt the installation of public transport to a more effective degree than their European counterparts in the 50-60s.

This is not because Los Angeles is bigger than Zürich, or that it takes twice as long to cross the US compared to Europe by car.

In Zürich and Switzerland, they have highly effective trains. The US could do the same, but choose not to.

What's the argument here, it's not possible to make train/metro/tram-lines long enough?

Everytime(without fail) I mention how fantastic public transport can be using Zürich as an example, Americans mention that the "US is simply too big".

But that is not an argument! Build more lines? London also has a pretty solid public transport system(though not as great as it could be, due to how car centric the country is).