Not needing to drive is a big draw of living in New York City, where my oldest son lives.
I suspect the decline is largely related to the Internet and the increased ability of people to work from home. Work from home = no commuting = less miles driven.
EDIT: In fact, most do. = 46.6%. Happy?
23% in manhattan, ~46% overall. Definitely not a majority, especially if just talking manhattan.
New York City is the only city in the country in which more than 50% of residents don't own a car, and that's looking at all five boroughts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._cities_with_most_...
(If you were looking at just Manhattan, the number would be around 80% - estimates vary.)
The next two are also in the tri-state area (Newark and Jersey City).
It's not until you get to DC (#4) in which you come to a different metropolitan area, and they only have 37% of residents without a car.
Every time I find out someone in San Francisco that lives in a neighborhood with convenient public transportation still chooses to drive regularly, I shudder. This city should be eliminating parking with a mighty vengeance.
Very much so.
For your son, it's certainly fun to be able to live in his 20s in a very trendy neighborhood with a vibrant nightlife, and within walking distance of work. :)
But for another one of my friends, New York is one of the only places where they can actually live comfortably.
He's legally blind. Not completely - he can read his phone if it's 2 inches away from his face, but that's it. You wouldn't necessarily know it when you first meet him (I didn't). He can hold a conversation with you and you wouldn't know that he can only make out your face in vague blurs.
If you live elsewhere (and especially if you live outside a major city), it's easy to overlook just how much of people's lives and culture in the US center around the act of driving.
For him, living in New York City allows him a level of mobility and independence that no other place in the country could provide. He doesn't feel like he's missing out on anything, because walking and taking the subway here are the norm. He doesn't really need much assistance beyond that (he can actually get by without the white cane or a seeing eye dog).
While blind people certainly can and do find ways to live their lives in other cities, it means a lot to my friend that he can live as "normally" as possible here.