Cost of ownership is less than the cost of not owning for most people. If you have to use taxi/uber/bus for EVERYWHERE you go that you can not walk, it gets expensive.
There are folks in some very large cities that this does not apply to. When I was 16, I was in a National Science Foundation program for the summer with a guy visiting his grandparents in my town. He was from New York City. We carpooled (meaning I drove and he rode). I had a 4 on the floor Toyota. After riding with me a few times, he pointed to the gear shift and asked what that thing was that I kept adjusting.