Taxis are expensive away from a metro area (or ‘we don’t go that far’ etc), unfortunately, and trying to travel a short distance made them even less economical. U/L was the best way that I could get around without massively tanking my bank account, and still finances were a death sentence in that living situation (living on $600ish a month - housing, utilities, food, medications… - was a recipe for disaster; such is life).
The idea is to improve them for future use, of course they aren’t a current drop-in we’re-done replacement.