Because of that scale difference, it is hard for public transportation in the US to appeal to our innate desire for convenience. The absolute size of the land

Because of that scale difference, it is hard for public transportation in the US to appeal to our innate desire for convenience. The absolute size of the land is irrelevant; the only thing that matters is how far people actually travel. If your state is 1000 miles across, but most of the people stay within 5 miles of their home most of the time then public transport is completely viable. People who want to travel further can still own a car, or just rent on when they need to travel a long way. While good public transport isn't an option everyone will continue to own cars, and while people own cars public transport will be under-utilized and expensive. It's a chicken and egg problem.