That light rail is expensive, inefficient and unpopular (based on lack of usage by the citizenry) is not the point. The point is that leftists have a religious mandate to SAVE THE PLANET!!!!!! So what they want to do is force as many people as possible out of all those terrible polluting autos and trucks and into sardine cans on rails. And to do this they do all they can to drive up auto and gasoline/diesel prices so that more and more people are unable to afford to use their vehicles. This also has the effect of forcing yet more into crowded urban areas thus increasing the likelihood they will become more dependant on government and more easily controlled because more concentrated.
I don’t know if it is exactly religious or not, but I have my own mandate to save the planet - from liberals!