by far the most common method of public transport for commuting is by bus, which is why the Gov spent all that money subsidising bus fares in the last couple of years.
You’re making a somewhat classic correlation = causation mistake here. I.e. because most people use cars, they must prefer cars over alternatives.
In reality a big part of why people use cars is because there isn't a practical alternative, because we either haven’t built it, or we tore it down in the 70s/80s. There was a period where the UK government honestly thought that public transport was going to cease existing, and be replaced by private cars. The decades since have clearly demonstrated why that isn’t true, as usage of public transport has grown year-on-year despite chronic underfunding, and the slow dismantling of services.