If it is a "small town" then the actual town itself is likely to be easy to get around without a car. I looked at a local town of 15,000 people and it's only 4k

If it is a "small town" then the actual town itself is likely to be easy to get around without a car. I looked at a local town of 15,000 people and it's only 4km across. You could bike that in 10-15 minutes. As for getting to the next town it would be common to have a railway station (or bus station) with regular trains every 15/20/30 minutes. Easy enough to ride down to the station, hop on a train to the next town or big city. Finally "Car-free" doesn't usually mean zero cars. Many households would still own them. But it does mean that it is reasonably possible not to need one and certainly not for every journey.