> This is odd to me. This is not a long distance. Is there zero transport infrastructure where you live?

There is, in fact I lived a 5 minute walk from a bus stop and worked near a subway stop. My commute was:

  1)  5 minute walking    
  2) 15 minutes bus to end of subway line  
  3) 25 minutes subway to transfer
  4) 10 minutes subway to stop near the office 
  5)  5 minutes walk 

Driving with no traffic would be close to 20 minutes, but 45-75+ minutes during rush hour. Taking transit ends up being reasonably time competitive, but far more enjoyable.

Public transport vs single unit transport usually incurs a 80-200% time penalty in most US scenarios.

Some of the more dense urban areas(US Northeast and west coast population hubs) have somewhat effective transport in the locality but due to living where it's affordable most workers who would want to leverage this have problematic commutes crossing multiple travel systems. Things change from county to county and city to city.

Look at the cluster that is determining where the California High Speed train corridor will stop along the way and the complications from interests and that. Same story, different protagonist and perspective.