The Poverty of the Carless: Toward Universal Auto Access

• Published in: Journal of planning education and research Vol. 42; no. 3; pp. 464 - 481
• Main Authors: King, David A., Smart, Michael J., Manville, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.09.2022; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Access; Automobiles; Built environment; Censuses; Households; Income; Low Income; Low income groups; Motor Vehicles; Operating costs; Panel data; Physical Environment; Poverty; Socioeconomic status; Socioeconomics; Trends; Urban environments; Vehicles; New York; United States > US; transportation poverty; desigualdad de ingresos; 城市形态; historia urbana; urban history; transportation; forma urbana; Transporte; urban form; income inequality; 城市历史; 交通贫困; pobreza de transporte; 收入不平等; 交通
• ISSN: 0739-456X; 1552-6577
• DOI: 10.1177/0739456X18823252

We document the falling socioeconomic status of American households without private vehicles and the continuing financial burden that cars present for low-income households that own them. We tie both these trends to the auto-orientation of America’s built environment, which forces people to either spend heavily on cars or risk being locked out of the economy. We first show that vehicle access remains difficult for low-income households and vehicle operating costs remain high and volatile. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Survey of Consumer Finances, and Census Public Use Microdata, we then show that in the last fifty years households without vehicles have lost income, both in absolute terms and relative to households with vehicles. We link these trends to the built environment by examining the fortunes of carless households in New York City, and particularly in Manhattan. Most of New York’s built environment did not change to accommodate cars, and in New York the fortunes of the carless did not fall. Our results suggest that planners should see vehicles, in most of the United States, as essential infrastructure, and work to close gaps in vehicle access.