I'm not sure about inter-city travel because as you said the train can't just stop in the middle of no where. But I think it works for subways and buses, at lea

I'm not sure about inter-city travel because as you said the train can't just stop in the middle of no where. But I think it works for subways and buses, at least in China. China has a different model of city economic expansion and here is the basic idea: - Government identifies new areas to develop (they could be "out of city" but usually just suburbs/rural); - Public transits were developed to cover those lands before others move (so no malls, no hospitals, no residential buildings, etc.); - Because it takes a lot of time and money to develop public transit, city sometimes issue bonds; - Other buildings start to move in, usually starting from residential buildings and malls; - City expects the revenue and tax from newly developed lands to cover the cost of bonds This sort of "creates" new cities (actually they are called satellite cities) but I don't think it gets to extend very far.