A 1993 study by the European Federation for Transport and
Environment found that car transport is seven times as
costly as rail travel in terms of the external social
costs it entails - congestion, accidents, pollution, loss
of cropland and natural habitats, depletion of oil
resources, and so on. Yet cars easily surpass trains or
buses as a flexible and convenient mode of personal
transport. It is unrealistic to expect people to give up
private cars in favour of mass transit.