I live in a rural town of 2000 people. We have a bus come through once or twice a day, and the stop is 5 miles from where we live. DH commutes 45 minutes to work. So, no, we cannot live without a car. Actually we have two, b/c I need a car to go places with the kids during the day, and for work appointments (I sell real estate so travel is a must). We did buy the minivan with cash, but when DH's car died 6 months later, we had to finance part of his new car
I was not happy about that, but now we have two fairly new cars that we should be able to drive for a long time...I hope.