The biggest problem with urban mass transit systems is that they don’t go where people need and want them to go, they go where politicians want them to go or where politicians want people to go.
In Sacramento, for instance, they built light rail from low income neighborhoods to the downtown. Light rail notoriously does not connect to one single shopping mall in the region. Had they built it from the neighborhoods where most downtown workers live maybe it would do better, but the decision was based on politics and not on ridership.
Cleveland has had it’s Rapid Transit forever! From Shaker Heights to downtown. Has always been well ridden. Now,,, the neighborhoods have changed. It used to be that you paid your fare when you got on. Now you pay at turnstiles in the downtown station. The minority kids just jump the turnstile, and run away. The police came out with a statement that they would no longer be arresting the jumpers because,,,,, they would be arresting a “disproportionate number” of minorities! And that wouldn’t look right! I don’t know how well the transit system was doing, but now it’s another “hand out!”