I just wanted to chime in and say that you’re right. Lots of people have no experience outside of big cities, so they don’t know how bad it is. Cars are a necessity in many places in the US; perhaps even most.

Uber didn’t come to the St Louis “surrounding area” for some time, and even when they did, it was hard to find a driver.

There are large areas of the world where public transportation is pretty limited as a day-to-day thing.