This is one of the dumber articles on public transit and probably could have been better done by a high school student for free.

Some random observations about transit in the US in response to this piece:

1. Some cities are dumb and poor, like Akron, where they have no rail transit and recently tore up a freeway they had build not too long ago. Treat every public expenditure as precious and plan accordingly as you may not get any more money for a long time.

2. Some cities are rich and putatively modern but just have a bad attitude, like Columbus. No rail transit and may never have any. Tear out those trolley coaches. Buses are good enough for the masses and if you behave yourself you might just get something non-diesel, sometime. It is run by a handful of rich families and corporations(and always has been)and they might be tempted by a Jetsons gadgetbahn like a monorail and the like but they are too cheap, so maybe BRT. They are easily contented, so they have OSU football but no professional team. But the promise of self-driving vehicles might motivate a place like Columbus to build another whole new set of freeways and streets and parking to accommodate.

3. Some cities might be culturally time-locked, like apparently Nashville, trapped in 1950. Their idea of a great transit system would be National City Lines with GM diesel buses operating in a cloud of smog. Still the Koch's will croak and 1950 will become say 1960.

Demanding an NYC subway ca. 1900(or BART, MARTA, WMATA)in every city says the writer has spent about 5 minutes pondering the issue, less than the high school student above. Is there any grasp of just how much a BART costs per foot. As always the thinking is predicated on the premise that Manhattan is the heavenly land of the future and always will be and should be imitated everywhere.

Electric light rail is the next step up from a bus, more expensive but the extra infrastructure will attract patronage if competently implemented, a moderate upgrade. Many people see riding a bus as so plebeian and sketchy. I rode buses for decades but my kids are not interested. Life without a car is unthinkable to them and their fellows.

What is so wrong with a moderate size mostly low rise city with a mostly surface electric rail transit system? Johnstown still had something like it in 1959 and SF in the sixties.

Do you really want to live in a future "Fifth Element"?