destroying what little public transit there was

Hey now, let's not stray into historical revisionism. Make no mistake: there was a lot of public transit back in the early 20th century. For example, here's Atlanta's streetcar map from exactly 100 years ago:

That's not just a fuck-ton more streetcar (or subway/other rail) routes than Atlanta has now; that was legitimately good coverage of most of the city!

Edit: Oh yeah, and that applies to intercity rail too, by the way:

Never forget the full breadth and scope of what was stolen from us.