Originally Posted by
tandempower
Yes, but there are different ways of approaching it. Sometimes I look at the bright side and hope people will just gradually drive less and less until it one day becomes as culturally comfortable to LCF as drive. On the other hand, I put a lot of effort into trying to accomplish anything and everything car-free, and in that way I study how difficult it is to avoid driving for certain things. Getting to an airport CF for a flight, for example, is getting easier but can still involve an overnight stay, which severely increases the cost. On principle, I'd rather avoid renting a car, but when it costs more to do it car-free, it's hard to justify the additional expense. For this reason, I favor free public camping (i.e. sleeping in your 'car' but using a tent as the 'car.')
Study after study shows that when you provide workable carfree alternatives, people will utilize them. For example, when workable bike infrastructure is installed, the modal share of bike riding goes way up. When public transit is improved, many more people will use it. And so on...
Unfortunately, in most places non-auto travel is stuck in a feedback loop. It doesn't make sense to improve alternatives because so few people use them. But so few people use them because they are poorly implemented. In places where they've broken out of this loop, the data repeatedly show that the car's modal share declines.