I don't have a car and use trains and buses (occasionaly tubes) to commute. Generally it's fine though signal failures, overcrowding, weekend and bank holiday reduced services/ engineering on the trains can be exhausting. On the buses, it's roadworks. London seems to be one huge ongoing hole at the moment with all the Victorian drains being dug up but it won't last forever. Not keen on the bendy buses - God forbid you're infirm in anyway - there are so few seats and they get busy, so you get flung around quite a bit. And they're slower than the old buses. On the plus side they are better for access and more secure.
In my home town (pop. 200,000) the bus service is appalling. It's practically non-existent after 6pm and on Sundays. (Yet there's lots of promotion of 'Busplus' tickets to link up trains with bus services - but what commuter gets back to their home area before 6 when the buses stop?). Plus key bus stops have moved away from the train station. The bus routes seem nonsensical as well. They go into the town centre, but never across it so you have to trudge into town to pick up a bus or get several buses for a single destination (if a bus goes there). This is made worse when the bus stops are split up around three sides of a large town centre. The bus station isn't used any more because it's dark, scary and smelly. Very few of the buses go past supermarkets (because these no longer are in the town centre) and stops are not always placed with passengers in mind (more about where the bus can stop without upsetting other road users). Certain routes (ie to our main hospital) are also incredibly slow.
I'm a huge fan of public transport and am happy to walk if I don't have heavy bags, but I'm limited so much by where and when I go places. Taxis are the only solution for evening outings locally. Fewer services per hour, extended journeys as routes are amalgamated and routes disappear completely are making daytime journeys increasingly difficult. Walking at night - well on certain routes and only if well-lit.
If the government really wants to help, then it's time to start getting people (incl. government and councils) to find ways of making public transport and walking/ cycling the first choice not the last resort. People don't use buses in my local area unless they have to because they can be shabby, infrequent, costly, tend not to go where they need and only serve certain estates rather than all areas. I've lived elsewhere (including in the UK) where buses were used by a much wider population and didn't have the same 'last resort' image - because the routes, frequency and quality of the service was better even if the price wasn't brilliant. So the goverment/ councils should be encouraged to look at routes (some of which are ancient) and improve frequency, evening and weekend services.
Most importantly there seems to be a lack of 'joined up thinking' when it comes to getting people around without cars. Bus companies/ councils rarely think outside their a specific locality, town or county - even if there are strong links to another one. Integrating stops and timetables across different transport types/ stops/ walkways would help. Think more clearly about how passengers/ pedestrians are getting from A-B without a car. What obstacles/ difficulties are in their way. For example, The bus stops going into central London from the new St Pancras Stn are a good 5-10 mins walk away. That's going to be fun for international passengers with loads of luggage!! Perhaps more specified bus routes might help speed things up too. Plus timetables at every stop, printed/ web-based amalgamated timetables for all local services and localised phone information NOT only Traveline or National Rail where people from outside your area don't know where you're trying to go or the routes.
Price is an issue, particularly for trains, but not necessarily the be-all and end-all especially if parking fees, taxi fares, not wanting to drink and drive etc are taken into account. There should be more flexibility in pricing structures tho especially for season tickets now that more people are working from home.
People want to feel safe, comfortable and valued (not carted around like cattle). They want to know the transport will leave and arrive on time (the bus arrival signs in London are brill), that they can board with prams, wheelchairs, suitcases, that they will have a seat especially for longer journeys, that there is access to a help point or there are things like CCTV and good lighting at the stops/ on the service (especially late at night), that routes/ vehicles have been maintained (no derailments) and that staff are polite. All these things make happier, less troublesome passengers and a safer journey.
The lack of these things doesn't put me off using public transport or walking but they certainly make using it more exhausting, time-consuming and annoying than it needs to be.