CLARKSVILLE, TN (WKRN) – Having a car is a must-have in much of Tennessee, especially in Clarksville and Murfreesboro. Those two cities made the list of worst places to live in the U.S. without a car, according to a new survey by LawnStarter.
The LawnStarter survey looked at the 200 biggest cities to see which ones require a car to truly get around. Clarksville was No. 2 on that list, and Murfreesboro came in No. 7.
The worst city was Mobile, Alabama, and the third worst was Little Rock, Arkansas.
The best three cities for living without a car were San Francisco, Boston and Washington, D.C.
According to Jeff Herman, editor-in-chief with LawnStarter, researchers looked at pedestrian fatalities, crime, mass transit options, rideshare and biking options to come up with their ranking.
“If you live on a bus line, great! If you can walk to the bus line, great! But you don’t have quite those connections that we have around a bigger city,” said Herman.
The interim director of Clarksville Transit System, Arthur Bing, said they have made improvements too, adding miles of sidewalk and 20 bus shelters. Still, not only is he up against COVID delays for new buses, he’s short 10 bus drivers.
“It is upsetting because to me, I think we run a pretty good transit system here,” Bing told WKRN. “We need more vehicles to shorten the time a person has to wait for a bus.”
WKRN-Channel 2 is a Clarksville Now news partner.