Well I wouldn't personally say that California has invested too much into trains compared to a lot of the world like Malaysia, Japan, China, Thailand, the EU, e

Well I wouldn't personally say that California has invested too much into trains compared to a lot of the world like Malaysia, Japan, China, Thailand, the EU, etc. The Mission in San Francisco is a great example of a neighborhood with many transit connections that supports a large number of residents who do not own cars. The need for things to be walking friendly creates the charm of the neighborhood. You mention BART, but not Caltrain. Cities with stops (e.g. Mountain View) end up being much more vibrant than communities a bit further away (e.g. Sunnyvale, Cupertino) as more of the restaurants and other businesses congregate where there is an influx of people. I don't know which areas of California you're thinking of but you seemed to acknowledge that the cities that invested in trains benefit from them so maybe the problem is that the other areas just didn't invest and are now strips of fast food restaurants and chain retail in strip malls built for cars.