The lefties living in the plush areas "near" downtown oppose north side highway expansion (totally out of their districts and of no bother to them) because they don't want to see the people who live in outlying areas (and who are taxed as citizens of Houston) enjoying a quick ride into town for work commutes (or even to come into town for entertainments).
The biggest laugh comes when one realized that some of these plush neighborhoods are actually in other cities (West University, Bellaire) yet their citizens work in Houston.
Don't count on leftist snobs to be honest in their push for rail (no rail lines have been proposed for their neighborhoods either).
You are right about the price per rider (we've seen the same thing with bus lines here and are just now getting back into rail).
Subsidized housing is the same way. Homes could have been bought for cheaper than these systems cost to operate. Consider to the trillions of dollars spent on the "war on poverty". Can we end that war yet? The libs keep talking about wanting an "exit strategy" for the war on terror (how do we know when it's over, how much will it cost, etc.) and I've heard the same about the war on drugs ("we should end it..."). When will the war on poverty end?
I know you're smarter than that.
The answer, of course, is never.
There are way too many people in the poverty industry who make good money counseling the poor, tracking the poor, feeding the poor, medicating the poor...ad nauseum.
Twenty-three years ago, if you took all the dough being spent in the "poor industry" and just gave it to poor people, each family of four would have gotten $40,000.
Today it must be at least double, if not triple that amount.
But those friendly, helpful bureaucrats would all lose their "jobs". They aren't going to let that happen.