The context of SF and Austin are obviously entirely different in terms of direction, momentum, it makes sense Austin wouldn't yet have a great public transporta

The context of SF and Austin are obviously entirely different in terms of direction, momentum, it makes sense Austin wouldn't yet have a great public transportation system. Austin TX wasn't rich 20 years ago, where was the money going to come from to build a nice transportation network? It's booming at present and will be very rich 20 years from now (most likely). It has a bad transportation network because it was underdeveloped for the prior decades as with much of Texas. The question going forward is what they'll do with their growth and rising affluence, how they'll utilize that (or not).