Originally Posted by Calsun

Until World War II ended people in the USA walked or rode the electric trolley cars or took the train to get to places. Most houses did not even have a garage and the city lots were narrower to concentrate people to provide more riders for the street cars. After WW II a company formed by GM, Firestone Tire, and Standard Oil proceeded to buy up all the trolley car lines and shut them down. They burned the trolley cars and tore up the rails in city after city.

A second factor was the flight of whites to the segregated suburbs so their children would not have to sit in a classroom with children of people of color. This led to sprawl and housing tracts many miles from city centers and the jobs so people needed to buy at least one car per household. After Reagan's time in office with the exporting of good manufacturing from the USA it took two breadwinners per household and so two cars are now needed to be purchased, maintained, insured, licensed, and stored. Add a college student and the household needs to support the costs of three cars.

Any American city of any size requires owning a car to get to work to get to school to get groceries or to go to a park to play. This is unique to the United States.