Must Grow Freeway construction can't, and shouldn't, keep up with Southern California's growth S an Diego's bright red trolley system is lauded or castigated, depending on the commentator.
Public transportation is expensive.
It rarely, if ever, pays for itself. If it did, and returned a profit, we'd see a resurgence of privately-owned passenger carriers rivaling their late 19th and early 20th century abundance. It's almost impossible to run urban transit operations profitably. They're restricted to fixed routes and schedules. They're required to operate at times and places where demand is next to non-existent.