They don't own cars because owning a car in the city sucks in a lot of ways, more so than in rural areas.

So yeah, if your point is that if you take away all the bad parts of using a car, and leave public transit as is, then using a car comes out ahead. Splendid.

That feels like you've made a tautology here. In places where public transit is more convenient than driving (and parking), many people choose not to own and drive a car.

Owning a car is not mutually exclusive with commuting via transit.

> I think the majority of city residents tend not to own cars

This depends a HUGE amount on the city. NYC/London/Paris probably true. LA? It is not uncommon for a household to have more cars than drivers