If you live in a city, you don't need a car

On the Guardian website today was an article from Joanna Moorhead who had given up the family car and doubted she would replace it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/06/live-city-dont-need-car

Most of the comments were about the London-centric nature of this article, most other cities don't have the public transport infrastructure that London does (and several South Londoners pointed out that South London doesn't either).

However, following the comments it showed that many (but not all) who claimed to need the car, or that the car was cheaper, were probably misleading themselves.

I once talked to someone from Gloucestershire who thought there was a lot of snobbery about cars in the countryside. He used the buses.  In Gloucestershire these were full of the elderly and children, whereas in London they were full of a wide range of people of all ages. He was once at a meeting and the person he was meeting found he was travelling by bus and was amazed, "But you are a manager!".

One of the options for those not owning a car but needing to use one was to hire one. However that only works for ex-car owners. If you have passed your test, don't get a car, then need to hire one a year later, are you going to be safe on the roads? That's why I've never driven since I passed my test 30 years ago!