I'm definitely not saying NYC won't be affected. Of course it will. We'll have to pay more for our subways and buses. But at least NYC already has the country's most extensive mass transit system, and I feel pretty confident that in the future, other cities are going to have to beef theirs up.
At least you HAVE a transit system.  Can't say that around where I live.

I think that a huge number of people are still convinced this is temporary.  That it is a result of katrina, or oil companies gouging, or a bad phase of the moon, or whatever; but they are just trying to hang on "until things go back to normal."