I don't think people in the Northeast realize how bad the transit is outside the Northeast. Like let's say you live in Cincinnati and want to visit a friend in Louisville. These 2 cities are about 90 miles apart as the crow flys. Your only options are to drive, take one of 3 daily busses from Greyhound and Baron busses, or fly.
In comparison, if you wanted to get from Baltimore to Philadelphia which are about the same distance, you get 17 daily busses from Flixbus, Megabus, Greyhound, and Peterpan Busses as well as 36 amtraks
And that’s not even getting into inner city travel, here are the transit maps for higher grade transit that being BRT, Streetcars, Light Rails, Metros, and Commuter rails in the cities of Louisville, and Cincinnati
Meanwhile here are the transit maps for Baltimore, and Philadelphia
