[vidarh]

Every time this comes up I reply the same:

The US "sheer vastness" is irrelevant. Most of the US population live in states with a population density higher than countries like Norway, which have good public transport (only 10 states, with an aggregate 12 million people, have a lower population density).

Nobody cares if "empty" areas in places like Alaska have poor public transport. You get 90% of the benefit if there's decent public transport in the higher density regions.

Most transport is not nation-wide, but short distance commutes anyway. Even places with very low population density tends to have some places where public transport is useful. It's not about eradicating car use, but to reduce the number of journeys for which they are required.

EDIT: And the US as a whole has a population density twice that of Norway.

EDIT: And before anyone brings up the oil: Most of Norways transit infrastructure predates the oil with a significant margin.