I find it tiresome how someone who lives elsewhere thinks we can waive a magic wand and change trillions in infrastructure and a century of entrenched car culture. Unless you have workable solutions please keep the peanut gallery comments to yourself.
There are solutions but they are the hard “get people to buck all incentives and change their behavior for the common good” kind that take a lot of work.
I'm not sure what other people can do, but personally I decided that instead of wishing in vain that the place I lived in was this way, I moved across the world to a new city and country where I could live car-free. Now I ride a bicycle to work and use subways and trains to get around on the weekends. Vote with your feet, I guess.
There are solutions but they are the hard “get people to buck all incentives and change their behavior for the common good” kind that take a lot of work.