That's such an US centric view. In Singapore, public transit is clean and reliable and everyone uses it. There's also no "you are poor" stigma attached to it so when we wanted to get to the afterparty of a startup event, everyone (including the CEOs) just took the MRT together. There's truly no need to own a car. Unless maybe as a status symbol or a collector's item.
Which is only the case because the then-nascent car industry worked hard to make it so.
There's no conspiracy theory here. Lobbying to remove city trolley systems; propaganda to establish and spread the idea of jaywalking; funds put toward undermining passenger rail; and so onβ it's all well-documented.
These moneyed interests are the reason the US still doesn't have a high speed rail system and likely never will.
