Owning a vehicle or lisence is not what it used to be. Today, people all across the globe have given up driving for the many benefits that come along with alternative methods of transportation. These methods can reduce pollution, be cost effective, and even improve people's well being and happiness.

First of all, there is a surprising amount of options if you don't want to drive a car.

Public transportation such as trains and buses exist in most major cities, especially in America and Europe. San Francisco is a busy city with many young residents, and many of these residents are not interested in getting their liscenses. ". . . They organize their summer jobs and social life around where they can walk or take public transportation or car-pool with friends." Because so many options exists, many people don't feel the need to own a car anymore. Similarily, some cities and towns have been made specifically to be navigated by foot, like Vauban Germany. Towns like Vauban are tailored to fit its resident's needs in everyway. ". . . In this new approach, stores are placed a walk away, on a main streer, rather than in malls along some distant highway." In Vauban, necessities are convieniently placed so that the town's inhabitents may acsess them with ease, rather than driving around the town.

However, alternative transportation methods are not the only reason to give up your car. By not driving a car, air pollution can be decreased drastically. In Paris, France's largest city and international destination, driving was temporarily illegal because of heavy smog in the city. ". . . Congestion was down 60 percent in the capital of France, after five-days of intensifying smog." It did not take very long for traffic and smog to clear up once the ban was put in place, and the famous city began to look like itself once again.

People are also happier when they do not drive cars. ' "When I had a car I was always tense. I'm much happier this way," sais Heidrun Walter.'