No one is forcing you to drive to work either. Many people in don't even have a license, yet make it to work each day. You even said it, "might be forced" meaning there are possibilities in which you aren't.
If you live outside the city, you basically are. In my home town, transportation is limited, eg a bus in the morning and one in the afternoon, both which can be late, and the stops are kilometers apart and the sidewalks are shitty. So when I'm there, I take my car everywhere, as does everyone else.
But when I lived in a big city, the opposite happened: parking was expensive and the traffic sucked, so I always took the bus and subway.
Let's not make blank statements about transportation, as it differs so much from one place from another.