Freedom isn't the word that I would associate with being bound by train schedules and routes.

Old cities, like NYC or London were established before the existence of the automobile. It makes sense that they were designed to move large numbers of people without automobiles. I don't live near such a city.

The geography of my area prevents the kind of mass transit system that exists in NYC.

And I can pretty much guarantee you that people in London and New York bitch about their public transportation systems all the time. Maybe people in Singapore don't but they're probably a pretty rare exception. And don't get even think about getting residents of Boston started on the performance of the MBTA and commuter rail last winter--and that's one of the better US public transit systems.

I like cities with good public transit systems but they're not nirvana. And for cities that are just so-so, like SF, the people I know there who don't own cars use Uber, Zipcar, and conventional rentals plenty.

People bitch about public transport all the time because, like the weather, it is an ubiquitous shared experience. It's something that we all experience more or less the same way. This makes it an easy topic to establish social contact on.

Would you rather be bound by rush hour, car accidents, and highway routes?

No matter what you choose, you're bound by something.

Agreed, it's a trade off.

Here, yes. I prefer those things over the list of things that I mentioned previously.

I have arranged my work schedule to miss the worst of both inbound and outbound rush hour.

When I'm outside of my regular work hours, on evenings and weekends, there is much more freedom in driving one's self as opposed to waiting for public transportation.

For those of us who are so inclined, public transportation is still an option.

As I mentioned, it doesn't sound like you've been to Europe. In a larger city in Germany for example, trains are running up to every two minutes around town, while long distance trains to other cities are every hour.

I can sympathize, Austin TX is built upon a giant rock of limestone which extremely difficult to develop into. All of our mass transit options that have come up connect to no-where.

As a former tunnel boring engineer, I can attest that mining tunnels through consistent rock is vastly easier than through mixed geologies such as Manhattan island. Also there is less stuff (utilities, metal debris, etc) underground in Austin. There are undoubtedly historical reasons why Austin lacks sane transit but technical difficulties while boring is almost certainly not one of them.

Sounds like you've identified a geological startup opportunity in Austin :)

How about a monorail or short distance hyperloop?