TBF considering how slow/unreliable and infrequent it tends to be, it’s hard to believe anyone would use it if they didn’t have other options. Even in my city (where buses run 30 minutes instead of every hour as is common elsewhere), it takes an hour and 15 minutes to get somewhere that’s a straight 15 minute freeway drive by car. And it’s worse in larger cities where buses are delayed by traffic such that you miss your transfer.

And it’s not like improvements like BRT or light rail will change it much considering how often they run in boulevards with 35mph speed limits and stop lights vs the 65mph grade separated freeways. Even a grade separated subway would be slower than driving unless it had spaced out stops, but then walking to said stops would take a lot of time (plus we couldn’t afford one, especially not one that actually serves the sprawl).

Under these conditions, it’s understandable to not even bother considering it as an option.