BOSTON — With limited quality public transportation, many low-income Latino residents across Massachusetts are reliant on cars, and it’s adversely affecting their finances and job choices, a new report (PDF) argues.

The study — comprised of surveys conducted in East Boston, Lynn, Springfield andWorcester — finds that a majority of respondents rely, often out of necessity, on an automobile as their primary mode of transportation, over more affordable, but perhaps less efficient, public transit options.

“Too many low-income and working families in Massachusetts are forced to choose between expensive dependence on automobiles and inadequate, time-consuming public transportation,” said Stephanie Pollock, of Northeastern University’s Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy, in a press release accompanying the report.

The Dukakis Center conducted the 362 surveys with the community organizing groupNeighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts. The sample was 80 percent people of Hispanic origin, and 75 percent of the sample reported total household incomes below $20,000.

WBUR