Hey, I don't even have a driver's license, and I live in the Midwest of USA!
The reason I don't have a car is not that I have a virtuous environmental consciousness (nor do I live in a real city like London); it's just that with my wages ($ 710 or $ 1420 per month, depending on whether I teach one or two courses), I can't possibly afford a reliable car, not to mention gas, insurance, parking permits, fines, etc. Lots of working-class people fall into this category. Car-centered development discriminates against the poorest section of the working class, who either cannot afford cars or can only buy cars that regularly break down and cost a whole lot to repair. Investment in efficient and reliable mass tranportation would benefit us greatly. Given the fact that the poorest of the working class tend to be people of color, it is also a matter of racial justice.
I would also like to call attention to the fact that driving car is very much like factory work in one sense: it forces drivers to pay _constant low-grade attention_ to their machines and surroundings so as not to cause accidents. This need to pay constant low-grade attention is very mentally stressful and yet does not require meaningful intellectual engagement. The same need is imposed upon workers inside factories, so they have to put up with the same kind of stress before, during, and after work hours.
Yoshie