Drive-in movies are back, joined by drive-in concerts, drive-through graduations, drive-by birthdays and car parades to honor health care workers.

The automobile has taken a central role in the pandemic; The New York Times says it serves as a “mini-shelter on wheels.”

It is an odd time to push for permanent restrictions on cars. Yet anti-car activists are using the pandemic to do just that.

“I’ve Seen a Future Without Cars, and It’s Amazing,” trumpeted a recent New York Times column that described the economic and public health carnage in New York City as a transportation utopia.

Anti-car advocates are pursuing the same vision in Denver. 

They rely on comforting euphemisms like “calming” (intentionally slowing traffic) and “rebalancing” (turning car lanes over to bicycles and buses).

In the absence of new roads, which are not on the horizon, this means increased traffic congestion and longer commute times for drivers.

For the anti-car crew, that is not an unfortunate side-effect. In moments of candor, they reveal that is precisely the point.

“If you’re going to promote multimodal options, you’ve got to make single-occupancy cars more difficult,” said Curtis Edwards with Conservation Colorado, according to Westword.

This punishes the vast majority of people who need their cars.

Before the pandemic, we commissioned a live telephone survey by Magellan Strategies of 300 Denver voters (in late January and early February) and 500 voters statewide (in mid-February).

The surveys found that more than two-thirds of Denver respondents and four out of five Colorado respondents who worked outside of the home relied on a personal vehicle to get there. A majority depended on cars to commute regardless of age, income, party affiliation or race, according to the survey.

Riding a bicycle is the preferred choice for only 2% of statewide commuters and 3% of Denver commuters. Walking to work was the choice of only 3% of statewide commuters and 4% in Denver. 

Only one out of five Denver daily commuters and 12% of statewide commuters reported that they used public transportation.

Those pre-pandemic transit numbers dropped precipitously as the pandemic hit Colorado, with Regional Transportation District ridership off 70%. Packing transit riders together is inconsistent with social distancing.

Already beset by budget and service problems, RTD now anticipates a 30% cut in its budget and a $1.3 billion shortfall through 2026. Prepare for dramatically worse service.

For similar reasons, ride-sharing services Lyft and Uber saw huge drop-offs in ridership and revenue.

And remember Car2Go, the car-sharing service? It disappeared from Denver last fall.

You would think that mobility advocates would be embracing the role of personal vehicles as part of the transportation mix. Instead they’re arguing that streets closed to cars to facilitate physical distancing should stay that way forever.

Common sense can prevail in these difficult times:

? I love cycling and pedal thousands of miles a year, but a bicycle is a great supplement, not a replacement, to a car. Bicycles do not work for the construction worker who needs to take supplies to the job site, the parent delivering a youth team to the game, or the shopper making a Costco run.

? Using sidewalks and streets to allow restaurants to reopen with expanded seating makes sense during a pandemic. After the pandemic, it will be problematic if diners cannot drive to these same restaurants.

? Colorado’s new car dealers employ 21,000 people directly and are responsible for nearly that many additional jobs indirectly. They also account for about 22% of state and local sales tax revenue. Right now, public services need this revenue more than ever.

Cars will help lead the way to a return to normalcy and economic recovery. They are an important part of the solution, not a problem.

Tim Jackson is president and CEO of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association.