With the economy stalled and the jobless rate hovering around 9 percent, it is critical that barriers to commuting be minimized, particularly for households with lower income. More than half a million American households face a daily challenge getting to work or to stores because they have no car and cannot reach their local transit system, according to a report from the Brookings Institution, a Surdna grantee.

The report, Transit Access and Zero-Vehicle Households, released by Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program, identifies, for the first time, this highly disadvantaged group and calls on policymakers to improve the transportation choices available to those who most need them.

Transit Access and Zero Vehicle Households is the first in a series of three studies following the release in May of Brookings’ Missed Opportunity report which found that transit services fall far short in connecting workers to jobs. This newest report examines the level of efficacy transit moves workers in households without cars around their metro areas and to places of employment. The next two studies will focus on access to transit from public housing and how transit serves employers’ needs.

The report ranks the 100 largest U.S. metro areas for the number of households with no cars and no access to transit. Atlanta, Dallas and Houston top the list with the lowest coverage rates and do the poorest job serving this population. Together, these metro areas leave more than 100,000 no-vehicle households with few transportation options.