I grew up in a rural town where you needed a car to get to work, go to the store, really do anything. Carpooling was uncommon as everyone lived so far away from one another. Going from this environment to living in Boston which is a very walkable city with multiple options for public transport (the T, busses, commuter line) was amazing - I could get practically anywhere and I didn't have to be focused on driving or upkeep on a car! When I moved to Seattle a couple years ago, I lost that walkability and extensive system of transport options, however I still mostly use the busses and/or link light rail fairly frequently - to work, the airport, stores/friends places that are easy to access. By sharing one car with my husband who works in Kent (really hard to get to without a car), I also don't really have the option of driving during the week if I don't feel like taking the bus (however I'm very cheap so would not be interested in paying the parking downtown if I were to drive anyway!). The fact that VM is able to provide an ORCA card at such a great yearly price is also a great motivator for me.
