Yes, but not all cities have good public transport systems!
No my son just wants to be able to come home for weekends, which from just 100 miles seems perfectly achievable. But because we're in the North of England, public transport is utterly crap. He thought it would actually be possible to leave work at 5pm (official finishing time) and get home, just 100 miles away, but when leaving at 5pm he can't make the penultimate train over back home, so has to rely on the last train (they only run every 2 hours), and when that gets cancelled he's stuffed!
Of course, in London and the handful of other major cities with good public transport, a "last" train anywhere as early as 7:15 would be laughable, as would any service that only ran every 2 hours! But in the North, apparently it's fine!
That's why people outside a handful of big cities rely on cars. I appreciate for those of you living in London or other big cities, you won't be able to comprehend any city with such poor public transport. It's exactly why people in Leeds, Manchester, York, Liverpool and Newcastle have been complaining about lack of public transport (other than their city centre systems), for decades!
And we've not even started on large towns, small towns and rural areas with ever poorer public transport options. But it's obviously fine because Londoners have good public transport options!