so there are places with no trains, buses, taxis, absolutely nothing at all? I find that hard to believe
One of the reasons I didn't drive until recently was that I grew up in such a place. One of the reasons for rural poverty is the high cost of transportation and the limitations on economic opportunity it brings with it. No buses, no trains, few taxis means that you have to rely on friends and family to drive you, or else walk, or ride a bike, or get a car. All of those options are more expensive, either in dollars or in time and opportunity costs, than being able to hop on a subway or catch a trolley.
There was a taxi company, but they had like 4 cars for the whole county, and you generally had to call them a day in advance to set up an appointment if you needed one at a particular time. Otherwise, you might wait for hours until one was free. The hills were too steep and often poorly paved to make riding a bike a reasonable option. So, if I wanted to go to the store, or to the library, I walked 3-5 miles to get there. There was a bus to and from school, but it was 1/2 mile to the stop, and if I missed it, then I had to walk. The bus had so many kids to pick up, scattered over so much area, and I was one of the first stops, so if I just missed it, I could hurry and still get to school just in time.
I moved to a city as soon as I turned 18, and I was too busy trying to support myself to bother to get a car or learn to drive it. I'd been used to walking 3 hours round trip to get groceries, so access to public transportation was a great luxury. Still, though, in that first city, buses only ran between 6am and 8pm, and not at all on Sunday. That was in a city with a quarter million people living in it.
