> Surprising nth order effects of city planning, the more car-centric your culture is, the less time the average person has for books

Perhaps this could be a selling point here in the UK. Yes your very late train has once again been cancelled and you now have to get a place on the replacement bus service, but at least you've had some time to read!

The stance I'd have is the less travel-centric your life is, the more time you have for reading (or anything else). Big tech making more remote work feasible has opened this up a lot more than city planning can.

> you can't read while driving

Hence audiobooks (and more generally, podcasts)