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Not sure where you mean by "western world" but public transport and cycling are very popular and normal options where I live.

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The GP almost certainly means the US, that's certainly not true in most of Europe.

Even in the US, there are some cities with excellent public transit.

New York is the land of subways, and was known for its endless taxis at one point.

I know other US cities have light rail, elevated tracks, transit.

Even SV has things called buses, and rail transit too.

I think people just like to shout random ideas sometimes, without thinking.

I don't mean that the US doesn't have cities with good public transit, but that the cities with bad public transit are usually in the US.

I just checked my old bus route when I used to work in Kansas City.

Driving from Corporate Woods, Overland Park to Westbottoms Missouri is 19 minutes. The bus takes over an hour including a sixteen minute walk. In other words, nothing has changed in ten years. It takes about three times the time to take a bus as opposed to driving.

Many Americans make sweeping assumptions about the "western world" only based on what they see in the US ( lack of public transit, only SUVs, political partisanship, etc.).

Public transit is pretty great in most big French cities ( including mini metros in not huge cities like Rennes, Lille Toulouse).

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