It's not totally essential but trips outside the city are 2-3x slower without a car. When you factor in wait times and switching trains/buses, you can spend hal

It's not totally essential but trips outside the city are 2-3x slower without a car. When you factor in wait times and switching trains/buses, you can spend half the day in transit to do a trip which only takes 40 minutes each way in a car. Also, many destinations in the surrounding area are suburban or semi-rural. You need the car when you get there, because where you actually want to go is not usually near the transit station. For example, it was theoretically possible for me to take public transport from SF to TechShop in Menlo Park, but it involved 2 hours of trains and a very limited bus service or 45 minute walk through an industrial park. Or, I could just drive there in 40 minutes.