My job is directly related to revitalizing cities, improving public transit, developing greenways and bikeways. I choose to live in a place where I do not have to depend on my car on a daily basis. I refuse to live in the 'burbs. I have a car, and I use it sometimes, but not often. It's a 1992 Honda Accord with 157,000 miles on it and I will not replace it until I have to. When that time comes, I will get a Prius or similar vehicle. Being a Honda person, I'm interested in the new Accord Hybrid.
I'm not some hippy-dippy idealist. I dress smart; I wear make-up. My company is a for-profit firm, one of the most respected in its field, that employs several thousand people. I have to turn a profit for them on my projects. I do not have a problem with this. I WOULD have a problem if I were designing parking lots for Wal-Mart. I would find another job in that case.
Providing alternate means of transportation will not hurt the economy and drive people from jobs. I'm no economist, but I'm just talking about PROVIDING A CHOICE and making it POSSIBLE for people to be less dependent on cars.
People are needed to build trains just as they are to build cars. I noticed that the old Metro trains in Washington were built in Spain and Italy, while the new ones are being built in New York State. There are opportunities for cross-pollination of auto- and transit industries.