[xethos]

Between the US and Canada, Canada (with it's population the size of California) has three out of four of the highest-ridership light rail systems.

Blaming sprawl or population count, while being outshone by Canada, means it's neither of the above. Perhaps we can move on to the auto companies pushing out light rail in California in the fifties to bump their own profits, or accept that it's the American people and their ethos that has left the automobile as the claimed only option.