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The statistics re: car ownership were simply to set the record straight:  American's are not the only people in the world who are fond of cars as is frequently implied.  In other words, America is no more car centric than the countries that I cited.  In Australia, where I lived for more than five years, a higher percentage of people commuting into the center of Melbourne traveled by transit than is the case in the U.S.  But most of the middle class and upper class people with whom I worked drove.  I rode transit every day whilst I lived in Australia.  I was the only senior level manager who did so.  In fact, I did not own a car, although I had a pretty flash motorcycle. I certainly agree that people should have a choice.  I also think that they should pay for it.  And this is the major stumbling block for passenger rail and commuter rail.  The users may love the trains, but they are not willing to pay for them with their ticket revenues.  They want the taxpayers to under write their use of passenger rail. At the end of the day it does not matter what people in Australia or France do.  The question is what is the best solution for America.  And it includes determining what the majority of Americans want.  What a novel idea?  Asking people in a democracy what they want.  The implied question was asked after WWII.  And many Americans - especially those who could afford it - bought a car and took off for the suburbs.  As a result, today approximately 88 per cent of Americans, according to DOT, use their car to commute to work, drive to the shopping center, and go to grannies for the holidays.  And it is going to stay that way in most areas. Passenger rail, including commuter rail, makes sense in a few corridors in the U.S. where the cost to expand the highways and airways is prohibitive.  According to an article in today's U.S.A. Today, even DOT is apparently coming to that conclusion.  Otherwise, trains are a luxury that the U.S., with its $13+ trillion debt, cannot afford.  And if the national debt does not get your attention, take a look at the fiscal problems in many of the states, where they are collectively on the hook for more than $1 trillion in unfunded pension liabilities.
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