Originally Posted by
Walter S
I'll answer, No. He's saying that the anecdotes tell you absolutely nothing about how common or uncommon a thing you're describing. Not only is it in doubt how many employers specify you need 'reliable transportation', it's unknown whether than means you need to have a car, or how often that is interpreted to be the intent.
Well, here's another anecdote I just found in the form of an article about the same topic:
https://thebillfold.com/do-you-have-...n-ea558d2a81a8
Fortunately, if you google "reliable transportation," Google explains that it doesn't mean you need to have or drive a car, just that you won't be missing work because of transportation issues. I wonder how many people understand that that's all it means.
Indeed, there's no way to know how often people infer a covert mandate to drive a car. I don't know that people would admit it to themselves that they think this way, let along admit it to a survey researcher.
What I think it comes down to is people avoiding questioning cultural norms. If you specifically approached a low-income worker and told them you would pay them the amount they spend per month on auto expenses if they would ride a bike to work, they might at first think, "yes, absolutely!" and then they would realize that they don't want to give up the convenience of driving places, so they would sadly decline but still want the money.
That is the economic culture we have. People want more money, but they don't want to cut things out of their budget that they spend money on. They want to eat their cake (money) and eat it (spend it) too.