Even large cities don't always have the most useful of public transportation systems. We lived outside of Charlotte, NC for 10 years. Charlotte its self does have public transportation, however where we lived had none at all (unless you include taxi service). Is the public transportation used? Yep, but it's also not viable for everyone. Take my husband's last job. Day shift started at 3:30 am and ended at 3:30 pm. 2nd shift started at 3:30pm and ended at 3:30 am. The bus and trains run from 6am until 6pm. So even if there was a line (train) or bus stop close to where we lived it would have done no good at all since the times didn't work. I guess my point is that even where there may be public transportation available it may not be useful. Then again you would actually need to live where it is available.