I live in an American suburb that's about an hour from the nearest major city. As a thought experiment, I wanted to see if I could get from my house to a theme park using only public transportation. I always knew taking public transportation would be longer, but looking at the actual prices and time tables was shocking.

Train
>Train station is 2 miles from my house
>3 trains per day, 2 leave before 5 AM, third leaves at 5 PM.
>Buses don't run before 5 AM, so I'd have to walk and leave the house around 3:30 AM.
> 3-hour train ride each way
>Need to take a bus from the train station to the park (4 miles, $2 fare).
>Get to the theme park at about 9 AM.
>Final train for the day leaves Theme Park at 5 PM
>Buses only leave every 30 minutes.
>Would need to be on the bus back to the train station by 4:00 PM
>Alternative is to spend the night at a hotel, but trains from Theme Park to my home station only go at 4 PM and 5 PM, so I'd have to spend a whole extra day in Theme Park town.
>Can take the bus home from my original train station, but it would be 1 hour to go 2 miles.
>$40 per roundtrip train ticket
>$4-$8 in bus fare per person

Bus
>7 Hour Bus Ride, leaving at 8 AM.
>Would have to spend the night.
>$20 bus ride per person
>$60 hotel minimum

Fuck That. I'll use the car.
>2-hour drive
>$30 in gas and I can take as many people as fit in my car.