You cannot replicate the Tokyo (or Seoul, or Taipei, or Singapore, or Hong Kong) model in the US without making certain societal choices that are either impossible or unpalatable here. We will never have anything remotely as nice as the Tokyo transit system for that reason.

I love taking the Tokyo subways whenever I visit. I make it a point to avoid the NYC subway if at all possible.

Because that's where work is?

It's always the same answer.