And it wasn't an accident either. The car companies actively campaigned to tear up and dismantle public transit.
Dallas used to have a huge streetcar network; all that remains is the M uptown line.
Even here in San Francisco the anti-public-transit movement managed to tear down the A and B lines (among others; The A line used to run down Geary to the beach and the B line turned south and ran down 19th Ave.)
Distain for public transport is effectively the default position for some politicians (and therefore their supporters) in some parts of the country regardless of the inefficiencies obvious during every commute. Having travelled to countries with good transit, it's so obvious that it makes more sense for urban areas. Somehow the Danes make it work out to smaller seaside towns (Helsingor to Hornbaek) but I'd settle for a few transit lines in my local urban area (3.3M).
I've often day dreamed about building a bot that sends a screenshot of traffic in Google Maps to my local representatives at 0830 and 1700 every day. Perhaps with the words "PLEASE fix my bloody commute" overlayed... the thought usually comes to me as I cross the 10 lane Wakota Bridge over the Mississippi that was recently replaced. Despite hundreds of millions of dollars, traffic still grinds to a halt at the same spot every damn day.
And it wasn't an accident either. The car companies actively campaigned to tear up and dismantle public transit.
Dallas used to have a huge streetcar network; all that remains is the M uptown line.
Even here in San Francisco the anti-public-transit movement managed to tear down the A and B lines (among others; The A line used to run down Geary to the beach and the B line turned south and ran down 19th Ave.)