> Nationwide, the general sentiment is that only poor people use public transportation. Just because it's widely used does not affect that sentiment.

Yes it does. If it’s actually widely used class stigma dissipates rapidly. See the subway in New York or commuter rail in the New York metro area. I believe commuter rail is also a thing in other parts of the Boston-Washington corridor and I know BART has substantial non-poor ridership even though the Bay Area’s public transport is a complete snafu. North America may have the worst public transport of the continents with substantial development but it’s not uniformly awful, just awful compared to Europe or Asia.