PLAN A : :
If the writer has a car - follow him after he gets off work to his local watering hole.
After he is settled and had a few drinks call a local automatic transmission repair service and ask them to please send out a tow truck to bring in the vehicle and pull out and inspect the burned out transmission and call him at the Danbury, CT (make sure you first have the vehicle license plate number, make, model, color, his work phone number, extension, and his working hours) newspaper at 11am the next day with the estimate for parts and labor to "fix" his car properly.
His obsolete car that is not essential anymore.
Be sure to tell them "you" will need the estimate as soon as possible as "you" will be going on a long trip soon - and that you will pay using your VISA card.
-- Don't worry about the locked doors - Pros can handle that in a heartbeat. Most shops have keymaking machines and codes. And Slim Jims.
-- Or for a small fee the ignition, door, and trunk key numbers are available to put on top of his left front tire........
--
PLAN B : :
(It gets much better......)
--
This "PLAN A" scenario also works wonders for ALF & ELF Enviro-Nutsies.....
The author needs to get out of the city from time-to-time.
That said, if I lived in NYC, I would have a ratty bicycle and a truly awful looking cheap-assed scooter with a basket on the back. I might have to ride more than 4 blocks to find a decent deli.
The phrase "love affair with the automobile" is usually a pretty good indication that thought-free libspeak is in progress.
The young people need to go someplace in their car. Now. Perhaps they are checking if the world is still out there as it was an hour ago. There is some uncertainty on this question and TV/Internet is no help since we know anything can be faked on screen.
How am I supposed to get to work without a car?
Since I work in the automotive industry, if nobody had cars, I wouldn't have a job.
I wish I didn't have to own an automobile but I live out in the suburbs and our light rail/bus system doesn't really work for me. It would literally take me close to three hours to get to work and the same to get back home, I'm too lazy for that.
So how do groceries and the things I need end up on my porch? Magic? Might be that these people need to go to rehab?
For heaven's sake. The butthead author is the "Transportation Reporter" for the decrepit Danbury News-Times. He HAS to kick up a fuss about his chosen subject or he's out of a job. If he's taking the bus in D'bury, he's living a very small life.