Is the automaker bailout denying reality?

Time to rethink transportation?

The Brookings Institution has released a fantastic study on the relationship of the car and America that adds an interesting element to the auto bailout.

"America is experiencing its longest and steepest drop in driving, signaling a permanent shift away from reliance on the car to other modes of transportation. In the coming years, this shift will have far reaching implications for transportation, environmental, energy, and land-use planning."

Even before the run up in gas prices in 2007 and 2008, the report finds, American driving habits were starting to plateau. Since, however, American vehicle miles traveled dropped by 90 billion miles. Obviously, higher gas prices helped put a spike in this trend, but cheaper gas has had little effect on reversing this trend thus far.

Finish: Bailout warming: Love affair with the car over?