Subways are not safe and it is terrible to go by subway when you can travel with car everywhere.
If you make $120k in NYC supporting a family of 3 (husband, wife, 1 kid), you are left with almost $1k with extremely tight budget. Now, $9 a day will cost you (22 days * 9 * 11 month) = $2,198.
Not everyone values time. Poor people, lower middle class and middle class need money and food on the table and not additional expense out of pocket for comfort of upper middle class and rich people.
Upper middle class and rich people value time because that is the only thing they can optimize. Money is imaginary and can't do better beyond certain level (think $2 MM Net worth).
America NYC is now so arrogant that it is making roads exclusive for people who make lots of money (>$150k).