That's an idealistic sentiment, but the fact is that some people have no alternative to car ownership. They either live in the middle of nowhere, or their job is very hard to impossible to get to without a car, or they have poor transport links. Ultimately, for some it's about survival and the inability to work from home.
I think this is a bit of an exaggeration. Maybe in the major cities proper it’s true that a majority don’t own cars, but I doubt it’s true for the metro areas as a whole.
I don't typically need one myself, but I'm a software dev who lives close enough to downtown bike into work or take a 20 minute bus ride.
But this is a huge exception to what the rest of my life was like. If I lived in the burbs it would be very difficult to manage without a car.
I have to imagine a significant portion of the 80% you cited lives in the suburbs and are 30-60 minutes away from their jobs and 15-30 minutes away from grocery stores.
In my city, less than 50% have a car. So the minority is not the ones not using it. Can't remember the last time I got a lift from someone. I literally can't name someone living here I know that own a car.
What everyone who has done this and does not have a car does. Why do people pretend there are situations they can't live without a car, when most people in the world do it, and even a lot of people in your city do it.
I'd say maybe a third of people I know don't have cars. In America. That's not a "basic necessity of life", especially when we're talking about well-developed regions like the west coast.
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