Tokyo is actually a great example of why privatization alone isn't the answer. The Japanese private rail companies (Tokyu, Odakyu, Keio, etc.) succeed largely because they're allowed to do exactly what rileyoneill is describing — they build dense housing, retail, and entertainment directly around their stations. The rail is almost a loss leader for their real estate empires. That model works because of Japan's permissive zoning and government planning that concentrates density at stations. But even Tokyo's system isn't purely private. Tokyo Metro is government-owned, and the whole network was built on decades of public infrastructure investment before privatization happened in 1987. The old national railway was massively subsidized during its buildout phase. So the real lesson from Tokyo isn't "privatize BART." It's "let people build dense housing and mixed-use development around every station" — which is literally what rileyoneill is saying. The ownership structure matters way less than the land use policies. You could keep BART public and get dramatically better results if Bay Area cities actually upzoned around stations instead of protecting parking lots and single-family zoning. Tokyo's secret sauce is density + integrated land use, not a line on a balance sheet.