In contrast, only 25 percent of Santa Clara County households have just one car and a mere 5 percent manage without one. Two neighborhoods near rail lines in Mountain View are designed to change that, but the experience of the residents shows how hard that will be. Whisman Station includes 515 homes by the Tasman West light-rail line, which hooks up to Caltrain in downtown Mountain View. The Crossings was built on the site of the failed Old Mill shopping center, which city officials said was slowly running down the neighborhood. But now, after school and work, neighbors mingle and walk dogs along landscaped village greens at the Crossings.
Moms gather to watch kids climb about the playground.
Nearby are two grocery stores, a Wal-Mart, a Sears and a Target store. Restaurants and other services are a short walk away. Still, Thornton and her friends say they don't often use public transit. The average stop had 331 boardings that day. Part of the irony is that the people who depend on public transportation most can't afford to buy a home in most transit villages.