This comment is exactly on point. I also used to think you could go without a car...then I had two children. Taking one infant or toddler on the subway was di

This comment is exactly on point. I also used to think you could go without a car...then I had two children. Taking one infant or toddler on the subway was difficult. Taking two were nearly impossible. Many stations have no elevator, so you lug the stroller+child up and down stairs and hope someone helps you out. Uber? Not so much -- it is illegal to have a child in a taxi w/o a car seat. We used to carry around a child seat on our storller. Then we had two children and it is literally impossible, so we purchased the car. I'm not trying to argue over the merits of living in a city vs a suburb. The parent stated that cars cost the same in KC and SF and I'm providing a realistic alternative -- they do not because of parking and ancillary costs. At this point it is obvious we need to move out of the city and it is down to an optimization problem of how much space we want vs how many hours a week i can see my child (e.g., I can live in NJ, but i wont be back home in time to see kids 4+ days out of the week.) I imagine the calculus is the same in SF, but I cannot say firsthand.