Oh, come on. It's not that simple and you know it. Having lived a distance out on a couple of commuter lines, it seems to me that a lot of people who do ride are too distant from the rail stations for a non-car option to be a good answer, and if you have an irregular work schedule - not exactly unusual for professionals in this city - ridesharing gets to be difficult and inconvenient. Also: have you ever tried to ride a bike in a business skirt? I thought not. Not everyone has the option to change at the office. Unless and until business culture starts to accomodate those realities, the things you suggest are not going to be practical solutions for a lot of people.

I don't drive, but I do think most stations could use more parking, and that that would go a long way to encouraging ridership. I also think it's wise to recognize that that's unlikely to happen in a lot of places - there's just nowhere to put it. The T and the towns do not do a good job of providing local transportation to rail stations - most places, there's just nothing, and when there is T bus service, it isn't necessarily synched up in any way with the trains, and it isn't necessarily reliable. There are a lot of factors that go into encouraging ridership. Excoriating people who are at least TRYING has the opposite effect.