Austin just got a car share service. Basically, a car share is a membership-based organization that allows its members to rent cars at a low rate, in addition to a monthly fee. The idea is not much different from a rental car on the surface, but it allows a considerably different mode of use, as rental car companies charge by the day and cater to out-of-town visitors and people with their primary vehicle in the shop. The idea behind a car share is to make it possible for some people to not have a primary vehicle at all.
We own two cars, which are idle on average for about at least 22 hours per day. That seems like a waste of our money, even with the inexpensive cars we have. Compare the cost of a car with the value you get out of it, and it's pretty expensive 1 . This isn't for everyone right now, but it's for some people, and it can drive change (haha). Consider someone who lives in a downtown area, with their job and grocery shopping in walking distance. Consider someone who has a motorcycle or scooter as their primary transportation, but still owns a car or truck for backup. Maybe you're a student who runs errands on the weekends, but stays on campus the rest of the time. Then there's the couple with a single car that occasionally needs a backup. Or, with a slightly different system, maybe you drive a tiny Toyota Yaris but occasionally need a truck.
I think this could combine well with a resurgence of rail travel. Energy costs are enormous for airlines, which trickle down to us. Then there are the delays, security issues, airline peanuts, cramped spaces, no-fly lists, as well as airports often being located well outside the city proper. Trains, on the other hand, are marvelously efficient, low-key, and far more spacious and comfortable. For medium length travel, say, the 200 miles from Austin to Dallas, the times required for driving, flying, and riding a train don't differ much. On a train, I can read, play a video game, or take a nap. Given the choice between riding for 4 hours of useful time 2 , or driving for 3 hours staring at asphalt, I'd definitely call the former a more valuable use of time.
I can do this now, but I have to deal with the hassle of a car when I get to Dallas. If the car share programs in those two cities are affiliated and near the train station, I get the advantage of inexpensive, environmentally-friendlier inter-city travel combined with the convenience of a car for local driving, without having the overhead of actually owning a vehicle. The cities of Texas may be less ideal for this sort of model, but I can imagine it being very useful in the urban Northeast, and its success there trickling back to us.
Of course, the real revolution will come when the cars can drive themselves, but that's a topic for later.