These credits were originally thought up to incentivize EVs because the smog in LA was near apocalyptic level.
Everybody knows (whether they admit it or not) that EVs don't help with global warming. They merely displace polution from places like the San Bernadino Valley and Los Angeles, which is all they were meant to do, for the purpose of preserving real estate values. And it's working.
That isn’t true: this is very a popular crank theory right now, but it’s not a popular opinion in mainstream science or among the public at large.
Transit is better but there is zero chance of replacing all cars with transit. Car centric development is deeply entrenched nationwide not just in SoCal.