When I worked in Erie, PA, 95% of the "car-free" interns bummed rides from other people on a daily basis. That aside, their options were:

walk - about 1.3 hours through some pretty shady neighborhoods
bus - about 1 hour, two transfers, and an additional 30 minute walk to/from the bus stop
bike if they happened to have one - about 25 minutes, through some really shady neighborhoods on the most potholed roads I've ever seen, in an area where NOBODY bikes on the roads so drivers aren't used to dealing with cyclists.

So even in a fairly built-up urban area (I wouldn't consider it suburban in any sense), the only reasonable option is to drive. (I biked, of course, but I wouldn't expect most people to deal with it)