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Living in a city with a horrible public transportation system (Columbus, OH), it is difficult to see things so simply. Here, the city is not organized in a way that is conducive to public transport, and the bus system is generally useless for me based on my current location and my regular destinations.
I made sure to live close enough to campus that I walk to class every day. I never drive to campus; if it's dark in the morning when I go to the gym, I ride one of the campus buses (the only reliable public transportation in the city!). I use my car (a Matrix, with pretty good gas mileage) for groceries, shopping, and traveling. As much as I'd like to say I can get groceries on my bike, I would literally have to go grocery shopping every day to be able to get by, which is not exactly an efficient use of my time or money.
I understand your concerns about the availability and efficiency of public transportation, and share them, but don't ever intend to live in a city where getting around that way is possible. I am not a city girl; I fully intend to live in a "country" setting where I will sometimes NEED a truck that gets 10 mpg to pull a horse trailer; the key is in limiting trips in frequency and distance. For the regular trips back and forth (I lived 10 miles from my high school, so had to drive every day [riding a bike on a busy, full-of-fast-semis state route at 6:30 in the morning in the dark is NOT safe, no matter how experienced you are]) a fuel efficient vehicle is a necessary choice for me.
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