Comment by cyberax

This is a problem with cities. All new infrastructure is extremely expensive because of the planning overhead and because of labor costs.

Not just light rail, but even regular water and sewer. San Francisco spent half a decade repaving a few blocks (Van Ness bus rapid transit) because they had to slowly dig through unmapped ancient infrastructure.

Even in the case of Toronto, you're looking at amounts that can buy each incremental rider a new house. In case of Seattle, each household is going to pay around $150k for that rail.

It's simply ridiculous.