I took the bus home for the first time yesterday. I always thought it was way too complicated to find the right schedule, the right bus, and the right terminal, so I often opted for the last train home. All I needed was a nudge from a friend and the willingness to try. And it worked out even better than I thought it would!

If everyone knew it was this easy, would the world be different? I’m afraid so.

An episode of Adam Ruins Everything took a hard look at the car craze and taught me actually what I needed.

A century ago, when cars became something people could drive, the roads were already full of people walking about and streetcars for groups to go even further. But after a few unfortunate car-fueled fatalities, the auto industry knew they had to do something to keep selling. They ended up planting stories in local newspapers, labeling the poor souls that found themselves six feet under a car - jaywalkers. But back in the day, the term "jay" was an offensive slur akin to a stupid hillbilly, and no one wanted to be that.

And as we all know, cars took over the roads. Where the streetcar, much like the bus I rode this weekend, could carry a dozen or more people, cities were built over the last hundred years to accomodate everyone's personal death machine.

And some could argue it's done even worse.