Remember the movie - Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

That was based on a true story of my home town - Los Angeles.

As Bob Hoskin's character Eddie Valiant noted at the beginning of the movie, we once had one of the best public transportation systems in the world.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096438/quotes/qt0406131

The Pacific Electric trolleys went everywhere. Unlike the movie, in real life Judge Doom and the forces of evil won in the end.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096438/quotes/qt0406024

Auto, rubber and oil companies conspired in L.A. (and other cities) to take over the rail transportation, shut it down, and replace them with freeways. They were even found guilty of anti-trust violations, but only ordered to pay a token $1, because there was supposedly "no damage."

Those rail lines sat dormant for decades, until recently, when we started rebuilding the rail system. But now it is dozens of times more expensive to rebuild, because the rights of way we gave away for almost free are now worth a fortune. We still have to coax people out of their cars . . .