Note that one doesn't actually need to "live in the city" to have good transit access, if appropriate development patterns are followed, with development and population generally clustered around transit nodes and routes.
This is the pattern used by traditional streetcar suburbs. See e.g. Tokyo and environs for a modern example.
Transit is generally practical because of density, but density can take many more forms than just a single dense city core.
The more general point is that development patterns and transit networks are intimately intertwined. Modern American development is often predicated on personal automobile usage, and so it's not surprising it works pretty badly when you take than away. But there are other combinations of transit and development patterns which may be much better overall.
This is the pattern used by traditional streetcar suburbs. See e.g. Tokyo and environs for a modern example.
Transit is generally practical because of density, but density can take many more forms than just a single dense city core.
The more general point is that development patterns and transit networks are intimately intertwined. Modern American development is often predicated on personal automobile usage, and so it's not surprising it works pretty badly when you take than away. But there are other combinations of transit and development patterns which may be much better overall.