Cities can work fine without cars if they have viable alternatives
I know you mentioned this but it bears repeating, because so many of the "fuck cars" people don't bother to prioritize investing in alternatives, just making driving more miserable.
If you make car commutes twice as long but offer trains, you get more people on trains.
If you make car commutes twice as long but don't offer any alternatives, you just have the same people sitting in cars for twice as long.