I rode the train in Boston in the subway in NYC a few times each and saw nothing odd at all. I also rode the trains and subways in Tokyo for a week and a half

I rode the train in Boston in the subway in NYC a few times each and saw nothing odd at all. I also rode the trains and subways in Tokyo for a week and a half and saw nothing odd, except the odd looks my wife got for wearing a shirt with the wrong date on it. (It was a shift from a marathon and just happened to coincide with Pearl Harbor Day, IIRC.) I think you had a lot of bad luck in the US, and I don't think the percentage of craziness you experienced is the norm. I know it happens, and it absolutely discourages people from public transit, but I just don't think it happens that much.