That is tragic, it does amaze me what people put up with, I see bikes in the bike sheds that I know do some distance with knackered typres, gunked up or dry chains and various bits falling off.
When I was a kid I made a point of keeping mine roadworthy, I liked it running well, still do, a bit of effort in maintenance saves effort when riding it or effort pushing it.
I keep an eye on my kids bikes as they are utterly useless and will ride with the tyres flat, am trying to get it across and this really puts it into focus how important it really is.