Elon Musk’s Feud with Public Transit Enthusiasts

Posted 6 years ago

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has a utopian vision for transportation: that we all will drive automated electric Teslas through massive underground tunnels (with no traffic, of course). However, for anyone who loves communities designed for walkability - cities like New York, Paris, Vienna and Vancouver - his vision is a dystopian nightmare. If you enjoy bloated suburbs, then Elon’s vision is for you.

He even went so far as to attack public transit, saying at an artificial intelligence conference earlier this month that “public transport is painful. It sucks. Why do you want to get on something with a lot of other people, that doesn’t leave where you want it to leave, doesn’t start where you want it to start, doesn’t end where you want it to end?”

He also said that you might end up next to a “serial killer” on public transit and that this is why people want individualized transport, that “goes where you want, when you want.”

Urbanists around the world united against Musk yesterday on Twitter with the hashtag #greatthingsthathappenedontransit and the responses are touching, funny, and true. From meeting the love of your life, to taking your baby home from the hospital, to losing 50 pounds, taking public transportation involves a sense of humanity not found when you drive around in your own metal box.

Great Things That Happened On Transit!