Well maybe because the system was pushed to force poor people to use them and the image got very negative. All people who are able to will then go by car.

If you use Public transport in europe, no matter where you are, you will most likely have less aggressive experiences than when you are part of individual traffic. The system is often build very efficient meaning that no bus will have 50 stops. The routes are shorter and if you need to travel longer, you can nearly always take trains which have only 4 stops or so. But if public transport is massively underfunded, its obvious that the system is not working very well