Almost all transit systems were originally built with downtown as the hub. In many cases the streetcar company or its investors owned land outside the city. A streetcar line built into this raw land made a huge fortune for the land owners. However in some cases, such as Key System in San Francisco East Bay, a slump in the real estate market caused the transit company to go bankrupt. They couldn't sell land fast enough to pay for the transit lines.

What we see in San Jose is a replay of the old downtown as a hub plan. But the huge difference is that VTA does not benefit from any real estate appreciation caused by line extensions other than an increase in the tax base.