I suspect this has a lot of inertia based on the current situation. Plenty of middle class citizens here in CZ take public transport, or their kids do, so they

I suspect this has a lot of inertia based on the current situation. Plenty of middle class citizens here in CZ take public transport, or their kids do, so they are fine with their tax money being spent on it, and they also insist on the service being safe, clean etc. If everyone drove everywhere, like in most of the US, the prevailing political winds would differ. Both situations are equilibria separated by a sharp ridge that needs to be overcome in order to change one to the other.