I would disagree that the time cost of using a private vehicle is not huge. The average annual cost of owning and operating a private vehicle is about $8,500[1

I would disagree that the time cost of using a private vehicle is not huge. The average annual cost of owning and operating a private vehicle is about $8,500[1]. The median personal income in the US is about $31,000[2]. Clearly, for a large part of the population, a good proportion of their working hours are spent paying for transportation. They are "paying huge sums of time". If you are only bringing in the median income, not being obliged to run a car is a massive advantage. Yes, of course you will miss out on some things such as going camping on the weekend but if this were really important to you then hiring a car specifically for this purpose would be a good option. [1] https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_03_17.html https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/pu... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income_in_the_United_...