Beginning of Rant:
You pinged a real issue with SB's in the greater LA county area. Unlike metros like New York, Chicago, or even San Francisco, you just cannot be successful here without a car. As you point out, and I have suggested as well in the past, if your SB does not have a car, you can expect your time-spend and cash-spend to increase from 30-60% over the negotiated allowance. And that's before your spend on non-BCD stuff like dinners.
People who move here from other cities/states just don't understand, or even believe, how important it is to have a car. Not having a car has many adverse effects. It limits your ability to find and keep a job. It actually costs more once you factor in daily Uber/Lyft costs, or the time and uncertainty of using a bus or relying on friends for rides. Inevitably, those 20-ish fresh off the bus/plane/boat haven't researched transportation issues in city that has one of the worst public transit systems of most metros. Add to make things worse, they all seem to think they can find a cheap AND SAFE apartment anywhere. Instead, they end up renting in really bad areas downtown ("I live in Hollywood" is not a flex!) with no easy access to fresh food, health care, and other critical services.
Imagine if getting you to her, or getting her to you, costs 50% of her total allowance. That makes a $400 PPM cost $600 when you end up paying $85+tip for an Uber both ways.
I know I sound like I'm whining. I am. But I'm, also practicing good budget (as well as good dick) discipline.
In some ways, Papa Sweet has an ADVANTAGE living in Pussy Siberia. He may need to drive an hour each way, but his SB's understand the significance of that and he carefully optimizes his time by planning M&G's with BCD sessions, and other multi-tasking ideas. And honestly, I'll speculate that every one of us would prefer that one-hour drive on the open highway over that one-hour slog through bumper-to-bumper traffic jams.
Ok! End of Rant.
Life is good
The Cat