I know people who use public transit to get into the city (NYC, not London) and then walk or use bike share to finish the trip. If we're really going to decide transit policy by building a hierarchy of privilege, it seems unfair to consider them more privileged than someone who can afford to take a car and pay for downtown parking.

HOnestly, that is both privilege and poverty.

You may be stuck in your small town because you walk everywhere. Or stuck paying more for housing because you cannot trust your car. Or decline a promotion because the gas station with the available assistant manager position is too far for you to walk before you can get a car - payraise be damned.

Only in some areas can someone take public transport, which does mean that the less privileged live further from workplaces.

You’re right that the ability to easily control where you live requires more resources. But that’s also an extremely poor (possibly bad faith) counter argument to the suggestion that we improve the infrastructure for non-polluting modes of traffic.