"Similarly ‘I need my car’ is more or less a reality for many people due to years of (bad) planning, lack of alternatives and general propaganda."
There's a self-reinforcing situation if ever there was one.
Not that long ago, bus routes (and trains for that matter) criss-crossed the country and were regulated so that your buses would connect to trains, etc. and make an integrated journey by public transport relatively painless. Trains obviously were cut back from the late 1960s and through to the 1980s. Buses deregulated 30 years ago, leading initially to wasteful competition and duplication on popular routes, and rapid withering of unprofitable ones. This all aids the shift to the "Great Car Economy" (© M. Thatcher) not only in rural areas but most of the suburban and semi-rural areas too. As people use cars for everything, bus services can no longer be sustained financially and are cut. As buses are cut, people use their cars for everything... And so on in a cycle that has accelerated in recent years.
The only way out of this mess is regulation in various forms. That won't suit various interests but it has to happen.
posts
