Is there evidence that a large number of people actually want more public transportation? If we're talking about commuters, most people who live in suburbs and commute already have the option to drive a short distance, park and ride a bus to their jobs.
We need more public transit, yes. But more than that, we need _better_ public transit.
Personally, when I commuted, I turned my 30 minute driving commute in traffic into a 30 minute biking commute via trails.
However your question is phased in such a way as to kill hope: most people don't have the imagination to think of what great transit even is, much less how it would change their life or if they want it.
Most of the costs of a car are fixed costs: your car payment, insurance, and taxes are the same on the car if you buy it and leave it sitting in your driveway all year, or if you drive it 70,000 miles in a year. Thus once you have the car you may as well drive all the way into work and not have to deal with the local transit system. (Unless traffic is really bad or parking is expensive this is the smart thing vs a park and ride). Work is another problem with your statement - if you still need the car to do your normal shopping, get to Church on Sunday, your volleyball club games at night, or whatever else you do with your life outside of work - then the incremental cost of driving to work is trivial so you may as well (again unless traffic or parking is an issue).
The real question is can we as a society afford cars? Cars costs thousands of lives in accidents every year. Cars need a lot of space: more and more expensive lanes on are roads, and many parking lots. A great transit system would save most people a lot of money, and a lot of lives.
Well, luckily things in the US don't work this way. We don't build out unwanted infrastructure because "...most people don't have the imagination". The preferences of the ivory tower academics or 1% of non-car owners shouldn't drive transportation infrastructure decisions.
> The real question is can we as a society afford cars?
Every day, people overwhelmingly vote with their actions: YES, they want cars. NO, they don't want to make it harder or more expensive to own cars.
The small minority of Americans who choose to not have cars should stop trying to tell the rest of the population how to live. Most people do not wish to live in high-density urban areas. They do not wish to have their travel restricted to wherever a bus will take them.
Safety and emissions will continue to improve, but cars are (thankfully) here to stay.