It has to do with the fact that air pollution has massively decreased, but cars still kill a lot of people. That's a considered and substantive point, I reckon.

I wrote it because in my experience a "balance" between modes can mean something like Amsterdam, or it can mean the status quo in the USA-outside-NYC, which is to say extreme and punishing car dependence. Sorry if I had you wrongly pegged. My belief is that a good balance is radically fewer cars in city centers. What's your idea of a good balance?

As for this seeming like an anti-car cult, consider this:

I've just invented a thing I call a horseless carriage. It will only kill 1 million people a year. Give me money.

Not only wouldn't it get funded, you'd be confined to a special prison for super villains for coming up with this bad idea. The fact that we live with such massive negative externalities that we don't make manufacturers or consumers of cars pay for is the Jedi mind trick.

> I feel like I stepped into a meeting of an anti-car cult...

Every single thread or post about anything adjacent to cars or public transportation devolves into this. There is hardly any nuance, little effort is made to respond in good faith, and there are insults and insinuations thrown around all the time. Anyone perceived as being on the “wrong side” is instantly given a label and mocked. You don’t even have to be overzealous about it. Even the most benign comment will have someone piling on usually. “Just one more bus bro”