I would have to agree with this. In the last few years, the terrible connection and high train prices have been "solved" by private bus companies, e.g. Flixbus

I would have to agree with this. In the last few years, the terrible connection and high train prices have been "solved" by private bus companies, e.g. Flixbus et al. But light rail services outside of city centres usually suck. Japan's rail is on a whole different level though. Also anecdotally, living in a rural area and getting a bus to school in the city was at least a 45 minute bus journey, with busses maybe every hour. Driving was 20 minutes. I had no choice, at that age I couldn't drive. But if I started working, no way I would do that. A nice side effect of this is people leave these rural-isa areas to move to cities, which increases congestion.