Under the deafening loudness of your collective eye rolls, many of you seemed missed where a short while later the couple said that after the reporter has posed the question a week prior, they had given it some thought and a train wouldn't be so bad.

Like the rest of us in this country, they were raised in an era when the privilege and privacy of a personal automobile was cherished above all. It will take time for people to adjust to such a substantial paradigm shift - and I suspect that many never will. Rather than taking advantage of the tremendous opportunity that lays before us to make better use of our land and resources, I fear we are far more likely to come up with a patchwork of solution after solution to keep this country limping along as it is.

I was just discussing this with a co-worker of mine on Friday night. I told him I thought we should have a massive government program to build regional and inter-regional rail systems, as sort of a mini "New Deal", assuming we see a significant climb in the unemployment rate. The system could later be sold off to private companies, if desired, but I think the important thing is to have the government step in and create it, as I have serious doubts that the private markets will step up to the task.

I think we already have sufficient, affordable electric car technology available. I am thinking of the $8K-10k electric vehicles that only go 25mph (per DOT regulations as opposed to capabilities IIRC), however rather than implementing it we are searching for the holy grail that goes 0-60 in 5 seconds and will travel 250 miles on a single charge and are coming out at $30k-40k range. The problem is, if our vehicles are expected to make interstate travel, these are requirements not luxuries. Instead, I think we should look toward having parking garages attached to the train stations, leased by services such as ZippCar, where you can rent a small electric car if you require a car to get around. Of course, I imagine hybrids and other more fuel efficient cars will still be available for longer distance travels.

My co-worker thought it was a good idea, however has emigrated from Sudan and still visits frequently, so coming from a country with so little, he may not be as wrapped up in America's car culture like many others are. It's nice to see I'm not alone in my perspective. Hopefully the idea will travel beyond the air waves of PBS and we'll see some progress after all.