&gt; Sure, but then the city better start spending some billions to improve the infrastructure and public transportation<p>Now you&#x27;re onto the crux of the issue.<p>People, generally, don&#x27;t want to commute more than 30m each way. The further away you get from that time frame, the more people &quot;drop out&quot; or start sacrificing in other areas (e.g. housing). Having reliable passive transit such as trains or subways extends this time window some.<p>Build a bullet train that gets you from Modesto (random town 90 miles away) to S.F. in 30m and watch how many families are perfectly willing to buy a 4 bedroom house for 350k and commute every day. Not to mention all the towns in between.<p><i>edit</i><p>The LA -&gt; SF bullet train&#x27;s a good start if it lives up to the hype.