"(ideally state owned and taxpayer funded)"

Why "ideally"? That would be a recipe for broken, dirty cars. People won't take care of government property (or property that doesn't belong to them in general). You don't usually see privately-owned cars driving around with ugly graffiti tags, nor do such cars typically smell of urine, the way that public buses and train cars often do.

With respect to cars specifically, ask anyone who's worked for a rental car company what kind of condition the cars often come back in. People abuse the crap out of rentals to the fullest extent they think they can get away with. This isn't specifically a modern phenomenon, either -- consider the old-time phrase "I'm going to beat him like a rented mule."