Page 10 - On The Move - Volume 16, Issue 3

or America’s low-income families, the single biggest driver of economic
Fopportunity could be owning their own vehicle. Recent research suggests a
strong link between car ownership and access to longer-lasting employment and a
higher household income.

A new study published in the Journal of Planning They were also more likely to seek out better The benefits of owning a car are particularly obvious
Education and Research in February examines neighborhoods. “Families with access to cars found for low-income single parents, who have to manager
how car ownership affects income opportunity housing in neighborhoods where environmental their families schedules and tend to make multiple
and finds that over the last 50 years, households and social quality consistently and significantly trips a day–to go to work, take children to school and
without vehicles have lost income, both in absolute exceeded that of the neighborhoods of households doctors’ appointments, and shop for the family.
terms and relative to households with vehicles. For without cars. Especially noteworthy, families with
example, a household with a car in 1955 had about car access felt safer in their neighborhoods and were Charles L. Baum, an economics and finance
twice the income as those without. By 2013, those less likely to live in neighborhoods with high crime professor at Middle Tennessee State University,
same households had more than three times as rates than those without car access,” according to the used National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data
much income as their car-less counterparts. report. to examine the effectiveness of vehicle ownership
for single mothers with no more than a high school
“We commonly talk about American cities as being “Even as highly educated Millennials and Baby education. Baum found that regardless of whether
automobile dependent, and a consequence of that Boomers fantasize about car-free-cities, car access is the single mother lived in a city or a suburb, the
is that people without cars are not able to access the still indispensable for many families seeking safety effect of having a car was the same: increased
economy as well as people with cars,” said David and economic security,” wrote Rolf Pendall, one of employment. “In some cases, the effects of vehicles
King, assistant professor at Arizona State University the Urban Institute study’s co-authors. are large,” Baum wrote in the Journal of Urban
and one of the authors of “The Poverty of the Carless: Economics. “Owning a vehicle often doubles the
Toward Universal Auto Access.” “It’s very expensive And as we know, personal vehicle ownership remains probability of employment and the number of hours
to be poor. And not having reliable transportation significantly less expensive than ride-hailing, even worked, increasing the probability of employment
could mean that you lose your job.” in dense urban areas where the services have seen by roughly 30 percentage points and work hours by
the most growth. In August 2018, August, the AAA about 13 per week.”
For America’s working poor, owning a car can also Foundation for Traffic Safety released a study finding
mean access to better jobs and safer neighborhoods. that the cost of relying on ride-hailing services as a So, while many of us know that owning a car
In 2014, the Urban Institute published “Driving to primary mode of transportation in 20 of the biggest represents freedom and the ability to come and go
Opportunity” and found that low-income residents metro areas in the U.S. was, at minimum, more as you please, for many low-income households,
of high-poverty neighborhoods who owned their than twice as much as the cost of owning a personal owning a car is a family essential that can be the key
own cars were twice as likely to find a job and four vehicle. to a better job, a better neighborhood and a much
times as likely to remain employed. better life.

This article originally appeared on the National Automobile Dealers Association’s
blog on May 9th, 2019 and is published with the permission of NADA.
8 www.maada.com