I just checked my old bus route when I used to work in Kansas City.
Driving from Corporate Woods, Overland Park to Westbottoms Missouri is 19 minutes. The bus takes over an hour including a sixteen minute walk. In other words, nothing has changed in ten years. It takes about three times the time to take a bus as opposed to driving.
Many Americans make sweeping assumptions about the "western world" only based on what they see in the US ( lack of public transit, only SUVs, political partisanship, etc.).
Public transit is pretty great in most big French cities ( including mini metros in not huge cities like Rennes, Lille Toulouse).