Originally Posted by JusticeZero

Here's what happened in Melbourne.

They built the greatest and most extensive commuter rail network imaginable. They built an amazing network of tramways (streetcar). Then they let the two compete against each other, and let all of the different bus companies compete as well.
You can't easily transfer from the train to the tram. Even though the train stations are next to tram tracks, you have to walk a couple blocks to a tram stop.
You can't easily transfer from the train to the bus, or vice versa. On a time trial I conducted, we came into a train station on time to watch the bus dissapear into the distance. To get to the bus stop, we had to make our way around a razorwire cyclone fence, jaywalk across a 6 lane road (no pedestrian crossing), then walk two and a half blocks to a vandalized stop - then wait half an hour, as the bus times were arranged so that the transfer would be impossible. We wanted to get on a different bus, but the routes snaked around and were spaced to make that equally difficult.
Buses and trams in Melbourne do not have bike racks. In fact, the bicyclists I talked to there were impressed by the cleverness of the idea, then disturbed to learn that such things were essentially standard even in such places as Fairbanks, Alaska.
If you ride the train, the entire route outside the window you will take is covered completely in graffiti. No-one seems to care.
When you get to a train station, nobody is there to watch it. You will have to wait half an hour for your train, perhaps, because of the non-meshing schedules. Usually, the stops are set away from things. If someone decides to attack you, there will be no-one to come to your rescue.

Meanwhile, the highway engineers have slowly been building freeways following a plan they were ordered to scrap, one engineered around the premise that anyone could drive at the freeway speed limit at the height of rush hour and never encounter a hint of congestion.
I took my Masters degree in city planning, specializing in public transportation, there. They have some of the best theorists on public transit in the world in that city - all in a state of perpetual cynicism and despair at seeing such an amazing infrastructure used in such a pathetic manner.