Of course cars are more convenient, comfortable, etc. I own two of them! But I use them very infrequently, and I can afford to own reserve transport capacity because I am not dependent on constant, heavy usage. My additional cost is pretty much limited to taxes and insurance, maintenance and fuel work out about the same as if I owned only one. I own two Sentras, a 1990 coupe (140K miles) and a 2003 sedan (45K miles), and I keep them both in excellent running condition. It's cheaper than buying new ones.

Public transportation should be used and encouraged so alternatives are available, and indirect subsidies to the car industry (particularly its infrastructure) should be eliminated so the true costs of motor transport can be appreciated. These are the costs everyone pays, even if they don't drive. As individual automotive transport becomes increasingly expensive and impractical, urban design and city planning will increasingly reflect it. There are lots of people in Manhattan who can afford cars but have never owned one. You may need a 4-wheel drive boondocks machine if you live way out in the country, but it will just have to be something you budget for, an additional cost to support a lifestyle you have chosen for yourself.

Drive smaller, more efficient cars, own less of them by driving less and by replacing them less frequently, plan your life, whenever practicable, around a carless existence. I've always moved as close to my job and shopping as I could. Sure, if I got a new job I was sometimes stuck with a longer commute, but at least make the effort. In the long run these things add up.

Even when gas went up to $4+ a gallon I did not need to ration my driving, because I had already made the effort to see the car as a convenience, not a necessity, and I knew I could cut back further if things got any worse. When gas spiked I started taking the bus to work, now that it has moderated in price, I continue doing so, it wasn't as bad as I'd convinced myself, and it gave me an appreciation of those who have no choice. Some of this is just my particular situation and I can take no credit for it, but some of it is good planning on my part.

Cars became a social problem not with the invention of mass production Model-T Fords, but when they became a luxury status item to be replaced every few years, and a means of moving out into the hinterlands where property was artificially cheap and extravagant housing possible. It was marketing, not motors, that got us into this mess.

Explore a bicycle or motorcycle and walk whenever you can. We don't have to fall back into some ludicrous horse-and-buggy existence, or some unrealistic Jetson future of monorails and nuclear powered flying trollys. You can still drive and enjoy the comfort and convenience, at least some of the time. Just make your long-term plans as if gasoline will become as expensive as it is in Europe, I did so over thirty years ago. Yes, we can have our cake and eat it too, we just can't eat as much or as often as we'd like.