This campaign has helped convince officials and the electorate that rail transit is a necessary component of a contemporary urban transportation system. Left unchallenged, these arguments have gradually bored their way into conventional wisdom. However, a close examination reveals that the rhetoric of rail tends to involve sweeping assertions, uneconomic thinking, and assumptions that range from difficult to impossible to verify. We have come to think of this collection of arguments as a mythology. The high cost of rail bleeds existing bus systems.
Rail is the people's choice.
Rail is fast transit. Rail is high-capacity transit. Only the most heavily utilized heavy rail trunks are competitive with busways, and then only at significantly higher costs. Rail construction provides jobs. Rail promotes superior urban form.