I've definitely found that travel now that Uber/Lyft exist really opens things up to not have a car, even in those types of cities though. It really does provide that "last mile" service when you don't have an adequate taxi system and don't want to be relegated to bus schedules.
When I wrap a business trip to Denver around a weekend there with my wife, I typically have a rental car for all the business stuff as I have to go down to Colorado Springs and all around the Denver metro for meetings... And the company is paying for it. Usually what I do on the day she flies in is drive to the airport, drop off the rental car, and then we ride the light rail downtown. Not everything is walkable, even in lower downtown where we like to stay, even considering I consider a several mile walk to be walkable lol. Taxi service in Denver is sparse. But Uber/Lyft are all over the place, rarely more than 5 minutes waiting on a ride.
Given that I'm avoiding the cost of renting a car, filling it with gas, paying to park it at a downtown hotel... AND it means I can drink without having to worry about driving because, well, it's Denver! Gonna be doing some drinking. More than worth the cost of Uber/Lyft.
I'm still not sure that makes most rail transit (HSR or otherwise) make sense relative to air travel, but I will say that the world has changed from where it was a decade ago to solve that "last mile" problem.