Yes to all the above. Round-trip on the BART from Rockridge to Montgomery St. is almost $8. Let's say you need to drive to the station, now you're paying for parking also (additional $2/day).

So you're a minimum waged fry-cook or whatever in SF, you've blown 1/8th of your workday earnings just getting to-from work. You can get the monthly pass ($76.00/mo), but that's a bitter pill to swallow on those wages.

Oh, and you might not be able to take it home anyways since it shuts down at midnight, so don't get a job that does dinner service. Also, IIR, bus transfers to the Muni aren't free.

In the meanwhile the highly paid dotcommers might even get free company shuttles with wifi.

By comparison, a round trip Subway ride in NYC is what, $5? Goes pretty much everywhere, with good service even into lower income areas, transfers to buses are free. So while minimum wage is lower in NYC, it doesn't even kill 1/8th of your workday's pay to get from home to work and back.

Because coverage is so good, it's also unlikely that you'll even need a car, so you can save on all that expense: gas, taxes, registration, insurance, etc.