Raise the Hammer

Everywhere rail is implemented, additional revenues AKA taxes are required or money robbed from other priorities, often bus service that negatively impacts low income riders. Phoenix added a 2% sales tax on food and groceries last year, Seattle had to implement a PAYROLL tax that automatically goes up each year to maintain their rail service and also in Phoenix, U. Of Arizona buys fares in bulk and charges students thru their tuition payments, many of which have tax sunsidized loans and grants to then ride "free".
Peter Rogoff, FTA Administrator, stated last year on May 18th 2010 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, "Supporters of public transit must be willing to share some simple truths that folks don't want to hear.  One is this -- Paint is cheap, rails systems are extremely expensive.
Yes, transit riders often want to go by rail.  But it turns out you can entice even diehard rail riders onto a bus, if you call it a "special" bus and just paint it a different color than the rest of the fleet.

Once you've got special buses, it turns out that busways are cheap.  Take that paint can and paint a designated bus lane on the street system.  Throw in signal preemption, and you can move a lot of people at very little cost compared to rail.

A little honesty about the differences between bus and rail can have some profound effects.

Earlier I pointed out that our new estimate for the deferred maintenance backlog for the entire transit universe is roughly $78 billion.  But you should know that fully 75 percent of that figure is to replace rail assets. 

Now let's remember that the majority of transit trips in this country are still done by bus.  When it comes to delivering actual transit service, Americans take 21 percent more transit trips every year than rail trips.  That said, fully three quarters of the funding backlog we face in achieving a state of good repair is associated with underfunded rail assets. 
Communities deciding between bus and rail investments need to stare those numbers in the face.  Some communities might be tempted to pay the extra cost for shiny new rails now.  But they need to be mindful of the costs they are teeing up for future generations.  
Is Bus Rapid Transit a workable option for every corridor – no.  There are some corridors with the kind of densities and destinations where only rail makes sense.
But Bus Rapid Transit is a fine fit for a lot more communities than are seriously considering it.
19th Century Fixed rail is NOT the answer to our future transportation issues!