Driving is like a chicken and egg problem. I need to drive because everyone else drives. I live in a city that is very sparse because of all the parking lots and wide roads, like the article mentions. So not much is walkable. I also can't feasibly bike to work because the direct route involves taking an interstate as there aren't any near alternatives over a river, doing this on bike is illegal. Add in the no bike lanes and idiot drivers and it just isn't not a good idea.

All of these reasons for needing a car are caused by infrastructure to support cars. Therefore the only way to break this cycle for the public good is to make driving less economic. Gas tax seems like the obvious choice, but it is usually not done because of purported public opinion. But really it actually would be fair as onemoreact said the maintenance for roads is so expensive, that without gas tax you are really just subsidizing driving.