I once heard that in the middle of 20th century, public transportation in the USA was widely privatized and bought by automotive manufacturers, and then wilfully left to rot, so that people would buy more cars.
However, I can’t find anything backing that up. Do you know whether that’s true, and where I can find some sources for that?
Well, if you can’t find anything to confirm your bias, then it is probably wrong. Public Transit often loses money and is owned and operated by government.