New Yorkers are switching to public transportation in record numbers. That’s good news for the environment; good news for the country’s energy consumption except that most of the  country is so car-dependent and underserved by public transportation…

This from the NY Times:

A growing number of New Yorkers are deciding that if the trip to work takes more than a half-hour, then someone else can do the driving, a new survey by the Census Bureau shows.

In the metropolitan region, which for years has been home to the nation’s longest average commute, tens of thousands of workers have stopped driving to their jobs and switched to riding subways, trains, buses and ferries, according to an analysis of the data released this week by demographers at Queens College.

More than 2.5 million residents of the region — about 2 of every 7 commuters — regularly rode some form of public transportation to work in 2005, up from about 2.2 million in 2000. The share of commuters driving themselves or riding in private cars fell, a trend that could bode well for America’s energy consumption if only it were taking hold nationally.

Despite rising gasoline prices, nearly 9 of every 10 workers nationwide still travel to work by private car, said Phillip A. Salopek, a demographer at the Census Bureau. That number has been stuck at about 88 percent since 2000, Mr. Salopek said.

The latest figures reinforce just how unusual New York is in its reliance on public transportation. No other American city makes half as much use of mass transit. Of the 6.2 million transit riders in the country, more than 40 percent live in the metropolitan region, which, by the federal government’s definition, includes the city and 18 surrounding counties in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.