My work caught me up right in Austin in a very nasty way, so it wasn't difficult to adjust. :)
Speaking of the traffic, there is just one thing to say to your federal government: "Look at public transportation in Europe and do just like them". Look at Germany, see its S-Bahn regional trains passing through every 10-15 minutes, and do the same. Copy their system keeping it frequent, fast and reliable. Make it 30 minutes by rail to get to the city center, and it will change the scene.
In Chicago we saw the local "Metra" regional trains (the name gave us endless fun, as in Russian it sounds like the word "metro" converted to feminine gender!), and never used it - it only runs once an hour off-peak, and such a frequency makes it completely ineffective.
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Speaking of the traffic, there is just one thing to say to your federal government: "Look at public transportation in Europe and do just like them". Look at Germany, see its S-Bahn regional trains passing through every 10-15 minutes, and do the same. Copy their system keeping it frequent, fast and reliable. Make it 30 minutes by rail to get to the city center, and it will change the scene.
In Chicago we saw the local "Metra" regional trains (the name gave us endless fun, as in Russian it sounds like the word "metro" converted to feminine gender!), and never used it - it only runs once an hour off-peak, and such a frequency makes it completely ineffective.