US is Behind in Reducing Car Usage

Check out this post on Krugman's blog showing the popularity of various transportation means in various industrialized countries.



It's a shame how US is behind so many industrialized countries in reducing car usage. Part of it is urban planning, but a big part of it is habit.

I wonder how much better Madison is than the US average.

There's a 50% chance the world will have to adapt to using less energy, including fewer cars. There's a 50% chance someone will develop a way to transfer nuclear power into portable high energy density storage vehicle and capture any carbon that results when the energy is released. The latter is a hard order, but people really love the perceived freedom of single-person motorized vehicles. Habits are hard to break.