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That grossly ignores the majority of rural america where public transit systems will never effectively serve their needs given the economics

That's why public transport shouldn't be left to the market. The benefits to society are huge in terms of environment so it's well worth subsidizing it.

And what of suburbia? Must us urbanites continue to support their lifestyle, to our own detriment?

Many rural areas continue to provide real value. So we're only too happy to accommodate them.

But the suburbs? Not so much.

Devils advocate here - if you tax buses according to the road wear they cause they’d be nowhere near affordable…

I live in NYC and subways (with both express as well as local) are very time efficient, especially during the few hours of rush hour. My iPhone appointments would tell me to leave 45 mins early since it assumed I as using a car, but the real transit time including walking was 15 mins using subways.

Changing zoning laws so that there is more density would shift demand to mass transit.