Urban Planning Professor Evelyn Blumenberg spoke to USA Today about Americans who are going car-free, by choice or by necessity. Of the roughly 8% of U.S. households that don’t own a vehicle, some are drawn to options such as e-bikes and public transit, taking advantage of a multitude of incentives for reducing car use. However, most of those households fall below the poverty line. “A very small percentage of those without cars truly make that choice,” said Blumenberg, director of the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies at UCLA Luskin. Car ownership is associated with a greater likelihood of finding and retaining employment, a study co-authored by Blumenberg found. And some places in the country are ill-designed for moving from place to place without a car. “We have created an urban environment around the automobile, with a few exceptions, in the U.S.,” she said. “It makes it very difficult for most households to be car-free.”