> I've lived in Europe for a few years total without ever owning a car and rarely feeling the lack of one, which would be effectively impossible outside 2-3 cit

> I've lived in Europe for a few years total without ever owning a car and rarely feeling the lack of one, which would be effectively impossible outside 2-3 cities in the USA. If one picks where they live carefully, I think most people could go car-free much easier than they believe. I have never owned a car and mostly ride a bike for transportation. I have lived in rural Maryland, the DC suburbs, Austin, Baltimore, and Buffalo. Of those places the only one where I found a car was necessary was rural Maryland. I would use a ride-sharing service periodically in the worse cities like Buffalo. Yes, the particular neighborhood may be more expensive, but in my experience having a car costs a fair bit more than the increase in rent from living in a more expensive neighborhood. (Note that I'm saying that a small number of individuals can go car-free more easily than they believe. Once a huge number of people start doing this, however, I'm sure it would run into problems.)