A lot of people travel alone. Like yesterday I went to a friend's party and everyone took transit there from their separate homes.

The part about a family of four could make sense. I think you're not supposed to have more than one rider on the same card, but I never tested it. Edit: you have to wait 18 minutes at the same stop for it to count, I think.

How many are staying home because they need to preserve their MTA card for next week’s rides?

I think it's a 7 day window, so if you start on Monday you're incentivized to go out on the weekend because that's when it becomes free to ride.

Anyway, I think we agree more than we disagree. Transit fares are regressive. When I was unemployed I didn't go places as much because I didn't want to spend the $6.