I think it's interesting to divide the question of how to restructure our transportation system into sub-categories:

* In an ideal world, what would transportation look like?
* What is possible, given this electorate and this economy?
* What are the next steps to making the possible scenario happen? What are good timelines, so that we can both get started now, and have a vision of real change?
and the step that progressives tend to often forget...
* Of all the steps we could take, which will help us build our movement so we can take further steps?

What do you think? My answers follow...

If environmentalists and relocalizers could find an answer to traffic, and people knew we'd done so, we'd be able to win elections and start implementing the train systems and building codes that are the long term answer.

Personally, I think the heavy emphasis on government-created programs is an inefficient move for progressives: without do-it-ourselves success stories, we keep telling the electorate what the responsible thing to do is, and then losing elections.

I think that carsharing and ridesharing combined could be a far more effective solution than many of us realize: the combination of rising oil prices and improving technology could mean that most people own cars in common, and that they carpool every time they travel a few miles. Both of these approaches are movement-builders, getting everyone involved. SpaceShare (festival and conference ridesharing) is explicit in trying to relocalize large events and large communities, getting people to know their neighbors; carsharing would have the same effect, you'll meet the others on your block. The fuel efficiency of packed-hybrids with few unused cars is competitive with buses. And we don't need the government to lead, these are projects that can change the country, needing a few people to start them and do them right, but they mostly self-fund, and could happen quickly.

-Stephen

Replacing Cars with Community
http://www.SpaceShare.com