"Got to do with where choo-choo go."
People like their Choo Choos.
I’m sitting on a train subsidized by the good taxpayers at $20,000.00 per year, just for me.
Idiots.
"Got to do with where choo-choo go."
A transit agency that expands its bus fleet gets the support of the transit operators union. But an agency that builds a rail line gets the support of construction companies, construction unions, banks and bond dealers, railcar manufacturers, electric power companies (if the railcars are electric powered), downtown property owners, and other real estate interests.
Rail may be a negative-sum game for the region as a whole, but those concentrated interests stand to gain a lot at a relatively small expense to everyone else.
http://pjmedia.com/eddriscoll/2006/01/11/the-desire-named-streetcar-revisited/