You make some good points and they seem to gravitate around the reality that America has sprawled and suburbanized, the employment as well. This is a serious problem for public transit. In some places people see where they live as an escape from "urban", which they strongly identify with crime and personal risk. The automobile is not just viewed as convenience but personal armor as well.

So the downward trend really isn't a reflection of any failure of rail transit in relation to buses. Really high fares such as at BART due to out of control payroll, yeah, that hurts ridership. The other problem with surface buses is ever worsening traffic: cheap gas, more people, more cars. Of course, if you benefit from an artificial monopoly like BART, helped along greatly by MTC policies, ridership can truly soar.

Electric buses are an underappreciated mode but not as salable nor sexy as rail. The overhead switchwork is slow and needs maintenance but there much room for innovation, such as onboard storage, advanced batteries, etc. Still, trying to get Muni to wire the #38 Geary is like pulling teeth, even with all the savings from storing coaches at an expanded Presidio Yard on route. And Muni hydro power is wheeled in from Hetch Hetchy.