We rent a car for 1-2 days ..annually. Probably spend under $100.00 annually on taxis. We seldom need to use transit because of where we live. I think for some people it's habit and convenience on going wherever and whenever you please without waiting around. Even if they don't live far from services and have relatively safe walking/cycling routes.

Given your estimate at cost of just car ownership $50.00 per day.....x30 yrs. = that's over $540,000 in today's dollars. Ok, lower that down because cost of goods /services cheaper 2 decades ago. I did an estimate of $300,000 using Canadian Automobile Association cost schedules a few years ago for past 30 years. But now, I've been car-free last 35 years..so let's use $300,000 still --in case I overestimated.