We've never had a car. As an American suburban teen, I took Drivers Ed, got my driving license, etc, but my husband didn't. I used to drive my parents' cars when needed.
We made aliyah (moved to Israel) soon after our wedding in 1970, at a time when private cars there were still very rare. In those days the roads were awful and driving culture even worse. Most drivers were "first generation," meaning the first in their families to ever drive or own a car. Having never really enjoyed driving, I was terrified to compete with them on the roads.
As years went on, I stopped renewing my American Drivers License and didn't bother with an Israeli one. We never made a lot of money, so the idea of having to budget car expenses, especially for one large enough for a family of seven, never appealed to us either. And as everyone can guess, one car wouldn't have been enough.
We've always somehow managed with public transportation. On rare occasions, we paid people to drive us, which cost less than owning a car.
Now we're senior citizens, and not only has public transportation improved, but it's half price for us. One of the really great improvements is that there are free transfers on city buses within a certain time span and the option of daily, weekly and monthly passes. You just need a RavKav bus pass. There are personal ones which automatically give us our discount and anonymous ones which can be used by anyone including tourists, but they are only full price trips.
Since we live outside of the big cities, I generally buy an unlimited day pass. For NS13, which is about $4-. If I have to go to Ariel I need to add another district, so it cost NS16- less than $5. This includes buses, lightrail and trains within the district.
Recently I heard of another way of paying which ends up less for short distances. You use an app on the phone. But since my phone doesn't have enough memory I'll have to wait until I get a new phone.
Life in Israel has its advantages for sure, especially for senior citizens.
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