Ranking the 'Worst Cities for Car Drivers'

A finance website called nerdwallet took it upon itself to rank the "worst" cities to drive a car.

1 minute read

June 20, 2014, 8:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Lombard Street San Francisco

SurangaSL / Shutterstock

To be fair to John Kuo, who writes the post that accompanies the list, he acknowledges that the cities topping out the "worst" list are also likely to have "well-supported public transportation systems," which can function as "an an environmentally-friendly alternative to waiting in traffic."

The ranking system is based on metrics such as how expensive it is to own a car, how overcrowded the city is ("Weaving though trolleys, cab drivers, pedestrians and cyclists can be difficult and dangerous"), and congestion. New York City, Detroit, and San Francisco top the list.

Tanya Snyder at Streestblog tipped off the urbanism internet community to the list provides her take on the list: "The pop-finance website’s new ranking of the worst cities to drive in includes, predictably, some of the country’s best cities to walk, bike, take transit, or otherwise be in."

Tuesday, June 17, 2014 in nerdwallet

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