I've noticed in my traveling that London and Beijing deal with some terrible traffic despite having transit systems far more developed and comprehensive in coverage than the vast majority of the US's. Which is still being fought e.g. with congestion pricing.

So despite all the comparative advantages of transit in those places, and the higher costs of car ownership, for whatever reason people really want private automobiles. So is it really a US-specific problem or just most obvious in the US, where cities that grew up when the majority of people had cars see no real need for super nice mass transit systems?