Our former socdem PM, Göran Persson, once said something like the mass ownership of cars is the greatest freedom reform ever for the working class. I certainly understand what he meant. Before the advent of the car, most people had never traveled further than the distance they could walk or ride in a day or two.
And no, before you say it, this certainly doesn't mean that commuting in a car is the ideal way to go to work in an urban area. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
Car rental are all but impossible a lot of the time, like on weekends, evenings or whatever. On top of that you have the hassle of actually getting to the place where they rent the car. The extra time spent getting to the rental with the family, renting it, and then doing the same thing when you come back, probably means that nine times out of ten you'll cancel that trip to the lake instead. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
The city was larger than Madrid in Area, despite being 15-20 times smaller in population. En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma
