With the "Renaissance" of Mass Transit alternatives that have made their way onto the scene in growing numbers lately in the United States, it has been a significant, but expected, note that there has been a large level of opposition. Yet many of these topics of opposition are understandable, the nature of our mentality toward community prevent us from significantly evolving as a Society.
Now while it seems like there is a growing amount of 'every silver lining has a cloud, guilty until proven innocent, glass is half empty' type of people these days that will find negativity in EVERYTHING, there must be a point when a level of understanding and sympathy toward a visionary cause is met. A visionary thinks more than 2 inches in front of his nose when designing a freeway or a neighborhood with extra land set aside for when it might be needed. Many cities are planning with the future in mind and hopefully with the community and its well being at heart.
This I feel has really become almost a renewed debate between Capitalism and Socialism. While Socialism, like Capitalism, is by far not a perfect system, Socialism and Socialist beliefs have been deemed a four letter word. There is, however, something very Socialist about Mass Transit, following the ideal of providing or supporting a project for the greater good of a community or society, as opposed to only supporting the ideal of the greater good of individual gain and importance. Where a Socialist may say "How do I fit into a community and what can I do to aid in its advancement and my placement in it?" a Capitalist may say "What does the community have to offer ME and how can I use it to better myself?"
Everyone should have the right to pursue their own well being and personal freedom, I do not argue that at all, but there should also be more of a point where we, as individuals, step back and find ways to better the community around us in ways that can have a lasting effect. Call me a SocioCapitalist I guess but I personally feel that Subsidy can be a good thing too if it can offer benefit to those who choose to use it and who really need it, and Mass Transit is a prime example.
Of course Mass Transit has its drawbacks, I am not denying that. Of course it doesn't work everywhere, be it bad planning, low density populations or otherwise. When it does work, however, it has the ability to create a change where it counts: strengthening the community as a whole; creating jobs, spurring business growth, inspiring liveable and sustainable lifestyles that all take part in the contribution of a society that can prepare for the future TOGETHER.
"...the real purpose of socialism is precisely to overcome and advance beyond the predatory phase of human development..."
"Socialism is directed towards a social-ethical end. Science, however, cannot create ends and, even less, instill them in human beings; science, at most, can supply the means by which to attain certain ends. But the ends themselves are conceived by personalities with lofty ethical ideals and—if these ends are not stillborn, but vital and vigorous—are adopted and carried forward by those many human beings who, half unconsciously, determine the slow evolution of society."
"The abstract concept "society" means to the individual human being the sum total of his direct and indirect relations to his contemporaries and to all the people of earlier generations. The individual is able to think, feel, strive, and work by himself; but he depends so much upon society—in his physical, intellectual, and emotional existence—that it is impossible to think of him, or to understand him, outside the framework of society. It is "society" which provides man with food, clothing, a home, the tools of work, language, the forms of thought, and most of the content of thought; his life is made possible through the labor and the accomplishments of the many millions past and present who are all hidden behind the small word “society.” It is evident, therefore, that the dependence of the individual upon society is a fact of nature which cannot be abolished—just as in the case of ants and bees."
"I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me constitutes the essence of the crisis of our time. It concerns the relationship of the individual to society. The individual has become more conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But he does not experience this dependence as a positive asset, as an organic tie, as a protective force, but rather as a threat to his natural rights, or even to his economic existence. Moreover, his position in society is such that the egotistical drives of his make-up are constantly being accentuated, while his social drives, which are by nature weaker, progressively deteriorate. All human beings, whatever their position in society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society." - Albert Einstein
Quotes taken from-
http://www.monthlyreview.org/598einstein.php