Boston seemed like that too, when I was there, and I'm still wondering why anyone who lives there bothered to have a car. On the outskirts, yeah, but if you've got business in the heart of Boston specifically, it seems from experience you should just walk.
The trains are so fucked that my 7 mile 30 minute bike commute is 55 minutes by train. It's a straight line with one change.
Driving would be 30-50 aggravating minutes and $450 for a parking space.
Boston is a regional city that bizarrely believes itself to be a major international metropolis. The levels of journey times and cost of living are up to par anyway.