That you can’t imagine how it possibly could.
You think the rest of the world just, I guess, found the natural transit in the ground? The rest of the world built public transit systems to satisfy the people. America did not, to satisfy the companies.
to pre-empt the standard responses:
“america is very big”, yes yes so is the rest of the world, we managed.
“America isn’t as dense”, yup the rest of the world has low densities, too. We still build infrastructure, though
“It’s very expensive and we already bought a car and made all these empty dead suburban environments, it would take people three hours by bus to get to a store”, yup America made its choices there, the rest of the world zones so that people live near the infrastructure they need and can get the things they need via transit.
You have a very rosy view of “the rest of the world.” The truth is that “the rest of the world” includes a vast array of different urban environments, some of which are very well-planned and executed, and others of which are, not so much, shall we say. This binary between the US and “the rest of the world” is bullshit and is intellectually lazy. I can only think that you have no formal education in urban studies.