In civilized places, buses take about as long as a car, as they're prioritized in infrastructure. The added benefit is that you don't even need to own a 2 ton death machine.
Fair, but it is the reality a lot of people live with. I would love for us to have a Netherlands approach to biking, but we don't. And we have brutally cold winters, where waiting for a bus is made even more undesirable, and biking less of an option because of how treacherous the snow makes everything (including driving).
To me it seems more like a pleasant fantasy than a realistic expectation. For other places I'm sure it is an attainable reality.
I don't think you'll meet a transit/urbanism advocate who will tell you to ride transit that doesn't exist where you are or that is wildly impractical for you. I certainly won't. For me, it's more about doing what makes the most sense for you, while also pushing to change the infrastructure where you are to make transit and urbanism better and more feasible for more people.
I have written my council pushing for changes to existing biking laws to make it safer in my city. So you're rightz we have to push for what we need. Nothing changes if we don't voice our concerns.
Local climate really isn't a reason to avoid public transportation infrastructure, as you have VERY hot and humid places (São Paulo, Brazil during summer) and very cold places (Netherlands during winter) with perfectly functional services. It's all about HOW said infrastructure is deployed and cared for.
Netherlands is quite warm from my perspective and a poor comparison to the extremely harsh winters we experience.
Thier average winter temperature is our late fall and early spring temp (November and March). The months of December, January and March are more comparable to Siberia.