I'm sure most of this is economy-related, as in I'm not sure how people with no jobs and massive student loans are supposed to be able to afford a car payment and insurance, but such events can have longer term cultural impacts as well. As it's more common to be carfree, people who are carfree won't be so freakish. When I was 18, anyone outside of a college campus (some of them) or Manhattan without a car was quite the weirdo. At least in areas where people aren't so car-dependent, that increasingly isn't the case.
