Back in 2005 I visited the US for the first time, in San Diego for work with some colleagues. Being European we decided to take the bus from where we stayed to wherever we needed to go, as you do. Yes, we knew that the US was extremely car-centric, but after looking online and finding a public bus with an appealing route quite close to where we stayed (Mission Beach, quite nice!) we assumed we were just lucky.

That was an eye-opening experience. Firstly the realization that the schedules didn't really mean anything there (the bus showing up 30 minutes later than advertised), secondly the entirely insane experience on the bus itself - ranging from the behavior of the driver to that of the other passengers.

After that we immediately grabbed a taxi to a car rental place.

In some places in North America, especially because you have 'car culture' - you end up with a total other kind of class of folks on public transit. It depends on where you live.

Try taking the public transit in Monaco, for example - most do it. It's hilarious. Full gowns, diamonds, the works.