I live in a New Hampshire city of about 10,000. I'm about three miles out of town, too far to walk regularly. You should try biking downtown in January in the snow, slush, and wind! I don't see anyone biking with shopping bags, even in the summer. We bike for recreation. We've made our choices.

There used to be a railroad that came up from Boston and deadheaded here. It went out of business, was revived, and failed again. There isn't even a scheduled bus through town.

The nearest Lyft is 45 minutes away right now. Meanwhile, my car works great. It's convenient, clean, fast, private, and fairly inexpensive. It hauls my goods, my kids, and my pets. I only need to drive it a few thousand miles a year, so gasoline costs aren't much of a consideration.