When Will Public Transit Surpass Private Motor Vehicles?

The Green New Deal being proposed by Ocasio-Cortez implies sweeping reforms at various levels, but let's just take something as simple as transportation and ask whether the potential for real reform exists:

Electric cars have been gaining popularity due to Tesla and others, but even if everyone who currently drives switches from combustion to electric motors, that won't make room for more trees and reforestation. To truly reform industrial society, we have to change the way people get around as well as how they congregate, i.e. what kinds of buildings and how those buildings are heated/cooled.

Most areas currently have some form of bus system or other public transit, but still most people drive instead of using it. Transit in most places is meant for a certain segment of society who have to put up with long waits and limited routing. Does it really require an entire 'green new deal' for the majority of people to switch from driving to transit?

But, just for discussion's sake, what if Democrats/socialists did launch a massive funding program to increase transit ridership? Would that work? No, because people would take the money being spent, expand transit for a little while, but they would spend the money on buying new cars and the end result would be under-utilized transit systems and a re-invigorated auto-industry. That is what always happens.

So shouldn't we expect basic behavioral reforms like widespread shifts from driving to transit use BEFORE investing on a larger scale with something like a green new deal? Let the people first show they are willing and able to reform before we use reform as an excuse to spread money around that will more than likely cause a resurgence of the status quo and all the climate denial that comes with that.

In fact, if we begin reforming behavior without launching a big spending program, we might find that we can achieve more in liberty than by controlling and stimulating the economy. We just need to get our minds and priorities straight.