No, the answer is city and state governments need to get serious about public transit. Every other major countries' cities invest in their public transit, it's just the city governments here in the US treat it like any public service, a barebones skeleton of a safety net for the poor that politicians target for cuts.

The median Caltrain rider makes $129,000 [0]. Unless a six figure income is considered poor, there's no way this is a safety net for the poor.

0: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://...

That's amazing. Caltrain is the "tech" industry commute option. That doc says that "minority" (non-white) ridership share is growing, but it's actually Asian/Indian growing and black/hispanic shrinking.

You are right that Caltrain isn't a good example, but the bus transit systems of the Bay Area's suburban locales, like SamTrans, do reflect the GP's comment. SamTrans' 2011 median rider income was $36000, 64% had no car, and 33% were youths.

http://www.samtrans.com/Assets/_SSP/archives/2011/July_Open_...

These stats are somewhat skewed by the fact that cold-weather night bus routes are mostly populated by homeless who are there for shelter/warmth rather than transportation (I can't speak to SamTrans specifically, but it is the case for VTA). VTA likes it, as it boosts their census artificially.