>>>I wonder how much of that has to do with our country being much larger and spread out. Not just between cities, but the cities themselves as well? Probably harder to establish efficient mass transit.
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>>I think it has more to do with money. We have the same situation (if not even greater) in Canada. We used to have a pretty good passenger rail system, but the railways realised that there is not enough money in passenger rail. The bigger bucks are in freight, so passenger rail has taken a real beating. In the cities (Toronto being the best example), there are not enough dollars being put into the system to grow it properly, so what happens is that the system has to settle for cramming more people into the same space. To the point where I simply refuse to ride on a Toronto Transit bus or subway unless I've reached a point of desperation rarely seen in civilised society. We do have a fairly decent commuter system called GO Transit, for people travelling into or out of Toronto from not too far away places. But within the city, the Toronto system is untenable as far as I'm concerned, and it all has to do with cash.
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>I love the double-decker Go trains. We couldn't have them in the UK cos our rail infrastructure was laid down long-long ago, by itinerant dinosaurs, and there are so many wee tunnels that the trains need to go through.

They are good. Comfortable seats, don't break down much (unlike the subway which breaks down fairly regularly friday evening at rush hour), and except for the tracks at Union Station, the tracks are pretty much all outdoors. I ride it every day morning and evening, and it doesn't get too crowded. There aren't many people left standing. Of course, sometimes you have to let those little old ladies with the walkers know whose boss, but the seat is usually worth it. ;)