After having read the other responses, I guess I'm pretty lucky where I live. Subway is a 10 min walk away, busses stop around the corner. Commuter rail and intercity busses keep the area connected.

The local transportation authority recently upgraded their website with excellent user friendly maps and schedules.

The neighborhood newspaper just printed a story about how the students at one of the public high schools decided this year to forgo the limo rentals to take them to the prom and to go by public transportation instead. The photo of a bunch of the kids in their tuxes and prom dresses crowding the aisle of a bus made me smile.