I lived in LA for a few years...without a car!
The transit system was great for me because I worked at a Uni and got direct service door-to-door. It worked just all right for my wife. It was convenient for her, but she worked downtown in a professional office. The kind where people wore suits and the senior people still wore ties (in LA!).
Buses were clean in the morning and full of people headed to work, but on her return trip they would be be...fragrant with a different clientele. This isn't meant to be classist, but she didn't feel safe and was worried about cleanliness. Our drycleaning bills were high.
We were told we could manage for a couple years because we didn't know anyone and so we didn't get invited anywhere. It was true. All of our trips were to popular, well serviced destinations.
That was prescient advice because eventually we did meet people and started getting invited to dinner parties etc. where buses simply didn't run. And a car was purchased.