Personally find the premise of the article odd. I don’t dislike public transit cause I’m worried I’ll die taking it. I am worried I’ll be mugged, and I know it will be unpleasantly crowded and take a long time.

As for why we find the crashes surprising it’s probably because they’re rare, ie we think of these as safe in this respect, so are surprised when a death occurs. If anything a feather in the cap of public transit.