There’s something to be said here about how normal it is for people to be renting later and later in life. I totally get what you’re saying but it’s sad that it’s true.

Yup. Often best to use phrases like ‘oh my understanding was x, am I missing something’ or ‘Wait I don’t see how you’re accounting for x, what am I missing?’ or ‘i looked at the source a few times and it seems to be indicating x, not y, am I misunderstanding the impact of z?’. Basically, people are much more willing to admit err when you are. If you start a ‘debate’ by recognizing you could be wrong you immediately soften the ground for both parties. Plus, everyone walks away feeling like ‘we’ won since we ‘beat the problem’ . Also, sometimes you actually are missing something and now when it’s explained to you you don’t feel like a jerk. Good vibe kinda shit

Having lived in the US with publicly run transit and in the UK with privately run transit I’d say there’s a lot of ‘it depends’ you’re glossing over here. Very city dependent