It's America, where single-occupant pickup trucks equal freedom. And so public transportation became largely viewed as a signal of low-status, which is why it's so inefficient and neglected. America had many local tram services that were ripped up because it seemed like cars were better and the future.
Houston would need another 5 hurricanes to be livable, and ATX just wants to keep having shitty roads and more traffic with its token tram that crawls into E ATX.
Where I grew up, I recall the demolition of a 1920's-era local train station took 15 years and it was replaced in the 90's with a light rail system with stations in the middle of nowhere and railcars were almost always empty.
Most American cities are too badly designed to allow for efficient local public transportation. I think about the only way out is high speed rail into city cores from feeder satellite residential suburbs, and then local busses and trains.
