People like their freedom but possibly a bigger problem is the cost of commuter rail. The car is by far the cheapest way to commute to the city from the suburb

People like their freedom but possibly a bigger problem is the cost of commuter rail. The car is by far the cheapest way to commute to the city from the suburbs. For example, a peak hours train ticket on the busiest commuter train in the U.S., the Long Island Railroad, is between $8 and $17.50 each way [1]. From the more distant suburbs (1.25 hours on the train) where the housing is cheaper, it costs $35 round trip. That's enough for about 9 gallons of gas which would suffice for at least 2-3 round trips. There are monthly tickets which save significant amounts, but then we're asking people to spend $350 a month up front which is no fun for someone whose take home pay is a little more than that per week. They prefer the small payments for a tank of gas. If we want rail to be the choice people make, it needs to be financially easier to make that choice. [1] http://web.mta.info/lirr/about/TicketInfo/Fares03-13.htm http://web.mta.info/lirr/about/TicketInfo/Fares03-13.htm