More than the love of cars, I think one other important factor is that US cities have been built and developed around car-first traffic for the last 80? years.

More than the love of cars, I think one other important factor is that US cities have been built and developed around car-first traffic for the last 80? years. Which makes it much more optimal to drive around. Now if you consider the economical ecosystem that was built around the road traffic, it's no suprise that the train network is having a hard time growing up.