…When she did ride Bay Transit, Jenkins sometimes caught the bus two hours before her shift to fit into the transit schedule. “It’s a good system, but it’s too taxed,” she said, noting that it ran only during the workweek and stopped running at 6 p.m. “They’ve got so much ground to cover.” For many experts, cars are the solution – at least in near future. Margy Waller, another Brookings scholar, tracks about 160 programs across the country that help low-income families buy cars.

Car ownership is a crucial part of getting many low-income workers to jobs increasingly in suburbia because of sprawl. Waller thinks that officials should help working-class people get behind the wheel, as long as the programs require applicants to learn about car care and personal budgeting.

“These same people are deprived every day,” Waller said. “They can’t access the cheaper shopping, the parks, the housing opportunities and the job opportunities”…

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