There are plenty of crazy, dangerous people on the road too. Psychologically, you feel more separated than them, even if they may be statistically be more dangerous.
They can't mug me or grope me or blast music on their phone 3 feet away from me though. To be fair occasionally there will be idiot drivers blasting their bass so loud it vibrates nearby cars, but that's far less common than inconsiderate assholes blasting music on their phones on public transit.
I was thinking something similar. It's easy for me to argue for public transportation as a 6 foot tall man with martial arts training. I still get a little uncomfortable catching a late night bart ride sometimes...
These sorts of things can be self selected. I know plenty of women who take public transit. The dividing line tends to be whether they grew up in a city or moved from the suburbs (and of course affluence).
I definitely feel safer on public transit. I live in an upper class neighborhood and I'm not sure if there's much more dangerous in this world than an entitled, distracted, moderately wealthy person driving an SUV that has places to go.
I leave the actual wealthy out of this because they just pay someone else to drive.
