Definitely not giving up, was just making a bit of a bait-and-switch joke about how so many people feel like they give up their "freedom" by giving up their cars.

In reality I take my bike with me everywhere and love it when public transport is accommodating to this.

I think the main issue here is that the very simplified rhetoric of ending use of personal cars in favor of public transportation. I don't think that their issue is about it being better to get as many cars out of use. When the idea of ditching personal cars for a much better system of public transport is brought up it is presented as if everyone is in urban or a large suburb. Which are the areas that such public transportation is a great and needed goal. But the same words that are used never present that people in rural areas aren't to be considered assholes for still needing personal transportation. Which also allows for right-wing outlets and politicians to spread the constant feeling of rural folks and their live are being attacked by libs. Those same right-wing folks will of course always find stuff to make this argument. However the lack of any mention of farmers or other rural folks as being an exception until we can make usable alternatives is a simple thing to sort out for the movement towards public transportation.

It just needs to be mentioned at all and can bring in better solidarity in reducing the vast majority of unnecessary personal ownership and use of cars. As someone that does live in a rural area and is very much in agreement about getting enough public transportation to get rid of so many cars. As it stands it just sounds like just another thing needed for daily work and life being "taken" from folks that don't have the chance at other options. It would be good to not turn having a car into being a "rebel". So many other efforts in protecting the environment have shown a similar divide between urban/suburban vs rural. Shit like "rolling coal" is an active effort to say "fuck you!" by people that really do feel like they are being attacked. It is a very stupid and stereotype re-enforcing thing to do in addition to being an asshole to others and the planet. But it is a divide that needs to be closed as much and and fast as possible if we want to be able to have any chance at un-fucking the global disaster. There is a difference between having a big truck with four wheel drive and actually needing it for farm work or other jobs that need that kind of thing. Vs the urban/suburban folks that get them and will never need to use it any different than they would a basic small two wheel drive car.

Also doesn't help when rural folks constantly hear about all the stuff cities and suburbs get for infrastructure (especially stuff like telecommunication/real high-speed internet access), but they get left behind and charged even higher rates for the bad options that are there. The whole closing down of schools and offices for COVID meant that so many people literally just couldn't do those things. It is much easier to deal with needing to suck it up and just stay home if you aren't constantly fighting a shitty and laggy connection. Dial-up is still a real thing and unless the communications companies are forced to get shit for real out to these folks, then they will always just leave them out because profits.

And this one particular example of the massive divide is something that could be used in addition to the push for rolling out more rail options. The cities and suburban areas could benefit from taxes being used for public mass transit and rural areas could get massive modernization of internet access. Get more fiber laid while building the high-speed rail and other lines while the construction teams are already digging things up to get the tracks installed. I don't know, but it would build a better feeling of connection instead of the current division of "city slickers and country hicks".

Or work from home

That is what you said. The overwhelming majority of people do not have that capability. I'm not saying that no one should work from home, and that it's not a great goal to have people that can doing so, but your phrasing implies that everyone has that capability.

Indeed. It's just not possible.

I would love to have functional public transit across the US, but unless your goal is to entirely eliminate all rural life--which would include farms--you're never going to be able to eliminate cars. I live near Atlanta; public transit there is abysmal. Building an elevated light rail system, and creating dedicated bus lanes throughout metro Atlanta would make the city much easier to navigate. But when I say near ATL, I mean that it takes about 90 minutes to get to the center with zero traffic. There's simply not enough people to make buses viable in my town (there's only one traffic light!), much less light rail.