I brought up Vancouver's situation to compare it to New York because they both have large rural areas and comparable rates of urban and rural populations, about

I brought up Vancouver's situation to compare it to New York because they both have large rural areas and comparable rates of urban and rural populations, about 50% of the population of NY and BC live in their largest cities. In addition, both NYC and Vancouver are highly urbanized, dense and developed cities. If it were truly the case that rural voters down play the importance of intercity public transit, then Vancouver should have the same dismal public transport priorities that plague NYC. In contrast, Vancouver has a long history of progressive public transit initiatives despite being attached to a very large and sparsely populated province which suggests that NYCs problem isn't the upstate voters.