Americans do not have to forgo their cars. They just need to forgo a single car. Most families I know have a car per adult, and often a spare in case one breaks. However they could easily drop down to one truck (not car, though maybe a SUV or minivan) for those rural/wildlands trips and other things that need a truck. All we need to do is give them a good option for the 90% of trips that are not those things: getting to work, getting groceries, running to schools, going to church, the game, the bar...

Just because we can't eliminate all cars doesn't mean we can't/shouldn't have great transit. Focus on make a system that is useful for people for the 90% of trips at less cost than the one car they are getting rid of to pay for it.