I mean, there's billions and trillions of dollars floating around in NY going to other things. It would seem that there should be other ways to fund transit expansion

Why did the US have to waste all of its "innovation" on bullshit that no one wants or asked for like cramming AI down our throats, but the minute I think we should "disrupt" transportation, the great country of innovation will scream at the top its lungs about how trains are literally impossible. Like, if NIMBYs are going to stamp their feet and insist what few semi-good places to live in the US are "full" and therefore young people should just take one for the team and live in the middle of nowhere with the CHUDs, high-speed rail can make that viable.

Cities are wasted on urban-dwellers who have no idea just how good they have it, and I would humbly invite any NIMBY that lives in a city to trade places with me, a nobody from a small town. We both seem to want what the other one has.