On the surface car culture exists because public transport isn't affordable or entirely absent. A few train routes can relieve thousands of cars off the road. A

On the surface car culture exists because public transport isn't affordable or entirely absent. A few train routes can relieve thousands of cars off the road. A bus carries the equivalent of dozens of cars. In almost all situations public transport is safer and more environmentally friendly. The situation in US is that public transport doesn't reach suburbs/exurbs, because the routes are generally low in passengers due lower population density - thus not profitable. There are of course more reasons why people choose living without public transport. The psychology of suburbs/exurbs is against public or shared utility like public transport, because it forces social cohesion and interaction will all of society layers(while private transport is segregated by location and limited to those who have vehicles). Its ingrained in US culture that personal homes, cars and guns are symbols of independent life - a certain brand of lifestyle that diametrically opposite to city life. People should understand this lifestyle has costs and inefficiencies that exist solely due spreading the population too thin to support services such as public transport. Any business or organization will naturally form to service large concentrations of users, focusing on cities-first, because this simplifies logistics and transport. People complain often that their area is only serviced by one company(e.g. internet) or even none. They don't really understand why there isn't competition or diversity of service providers for their needs. Their lifestyle teaches them its normal and everything else must accommodate it.