Things are precious when they are scarce

"I'm serenely confident that we're in the twilight of Happy Motoring now."

I agree.
It won’t be so fast, because great changes need to be done by the majority and the majority always arrives to the point a little bit later...
But you centered the problem.
It is not only a matter of cost and availability of fuel, or a matter of pollution.
If it was just that it could be solved.
It is a matter of having too many cars and life being hell.
When it takes hours to drive a mile, compared to minutes with the train, no matter how much it costs, I would prefer the train.
Because I, as you, can rationally see the importance and the beauty to live a decent life, which is not working more to have more money to spend, but having enough time to do the things we like.
When you reach a certain age you realize suddenly that life is terribly short and you have more unfulfilled dreams than time.
Things are precious when they are scarce.
Time is one of the few things in life you cannot buy and in front of which being a poor or a millionaire doesn’t make any difference.