When a city plans a new rail-transit system, it is almost inevitable that a connection to the airport is included. That is a reflection of the importance of plane travel, which has become cheaper and more widely used. But it is also a product of transit politics. The numbers don’t seem to justify such a connection; employment centers generate many more riders, and bringing a rail line into an airport is often complicated and expensive. Even the most convenient rail connections serve only a portion of airport passengers. At National Airport, with a convenient connection to one of the most comprehensive rail systems in the country, only 15% of passengers ride rail. In Atlanta and Chicago, that figure is under 10%. But the public is sold on airport connections; someone who takes the train to the airport every few months has as many votes as someone who rides to work every day.

Christof Spieler, Trains, Buses, People: An Opinionated Atlas of US and Canadian Transit, 2021 (page 29)

• SacRT light rail