So, at least in a light rail town, you apparently can fool most of the people most of the time. In Portland we can even credit light rail with putting more cars on the streets than would otherwise be there. More on this neat trick in a moment. Portland's light rail system was named by contest. The winner christened it MAX, for Metropolitan Area Express.
Trouble is, there is no express service.
In Phoenix you're probably being told that light rail trains can travel up to 55 miles an hour. That's technically true, but only if they never stop to pick up any passengers. Portland's trains average a whopping 19 miles an hour from suburb to central city. Politics being the art of compromise, don't be surprised when your system ends up with so many stops that even rush hour traffic beats the train into town. In Phoenix you're probably also being told that light rail is more efficient than busses because one driver can carry so many more passengers at one time.