I'll just wear myself out if I keep letting myself respond to feelings-based comments like yours with facts, like how NYC is below the national average in crime safety [1] and well below national average on obesity. [2]
I shouldn't exert myself pointing out that the average cost of a vehicle is about $5000 per year [3], which costs a lot more than the unlimited miles you can travel with a $75/month bus/train pass in Chicago. [4]
It would probably blow the minds of car-dwellers to find out that it only takes 20 minutes to walk a mile. [5]
You know in cities there's trains, buses, and cabs, right?
Especially in a city like NYC, essentially everything you need is within a mile. I live in Tokyo right now, and everything I need for daily life is within a quarter of a mile. I can get basically anywhere in the city in 30 minutes.
Tokyo doesn't really have a downtown, and what I described works for most of Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Sapporo. I think it mostly covers all 5 boroughs of NYC.
I lived without a car in SF for 10 years and I think it covers that city as well. A lot of international cities work the same way.
Which means you have massive delays between stops, and can’t do much if you don’t have hours available.