The biggest problem with your argument is that you're talking about "cities" only and ignoring the rest of the country. Cities make up 3.5% of the US land: https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2015/cb15-33....

I like the idea of large cities improving their public transportation systems and having parking lots on the outskirts but it doesn't make financial sense in the smaller size cities. There are lots of people like me that live in a small down and commute into a city (60k people). I'd love better public transportation but it only makes financial sense in the "downtown" areas.