as political candidates come forward, especially in local and regional contests, pinning them down as to goals, aspirations regarding effective public transit and creating communities that do not encourage sprawl need to be stated. And when/if that candidate promotes goals you are comfortable with, supporting and encouraging others to support him/her and helping them gain office is certainly a good plan. Then you are close enough and known enough to be that voice in their ear, reminding them of their position and encouraging them to make the right choices.
I know.. its time consuming and requires huge investments in time and energy to make that happen. Its not as neat as 'I voted for you, you need to deliver.". but it does bear fruit.
Transportation costs eat up an average of 20% of the American family household budget. Thats mostly money that leaves the community. Encouraging pols to start working on sustainable local transport, as well as creating policy to stop urban sprawl and our car based delivery system is the first step towards economic properity. Joe Cortwrite here in Portland did a policy paper that showed huge benefits for our city resulting from a puny,bare bones transportation investment ( less than 1% of transportation budget) yielding improved economc health for the City.
Individual actions are important. Getting the city and county and state you live in to inform sustainable transportation goals are as important. We do what we can do individually,but to show huge results takes a common effort.
Best wishes.. and back to work!