not reliable transportation

Neither are a lot of people's cars. I've personally been known to buy beaters that should've long been discarded and keep them running for a few more years, sometimes they even leave me in better condition than they came to me but that's because I need to repair them because they have a tendency to develop issues after hundreds of thousands of kilometers (current one actually isn't even that old, only a bit above 400k km). Usually issues that don't leave me stranded, but still issues that can take a week or 2 worth of nights to fix as a single dad who can't work on his car until the toddler's asleep.

I've had breakdowns on bikes too (my legs have too much torque and I dislike shifting down all the time to accelerate so I've literally broken a bunch of pedals among other things), but bike repairs are quick and cheap. And when the bus breaks down, a replacement one is sent - something I've experienced multiple times in my life.

So I wonder in what universe would a bike or bus be a less reliable method of transportation than a car, unless it's also specified that the car must be max 5 years old or something.