If I was in charge of the transport system of a metropolitan area I would have a three tiered system, one that is free of cost to use and one that is cheap and one that is slightly costly.
The free of cost system would be a system of conveyor belts. This is how it would work.
There would be three belts, the first belt is slow moving, at walking pace. The second belt moves twice as fast and is directly next to it. The third belt is moving a jogging pace but only slightly faster than the middle belt. Commuters would step from belt to belt until they are in the third belt. The third belt has seats on it. It is not as fast as a train but it never stops moving and it is free to use and it would move the distance of a city in one hour. The belts are not rubber, they are solid moving platforms. They are large corrugated panels that are joined together and propelled by rollers below.
The cheap tier of the transport system would be very thin trains that are just wide enough for people to sit in single file sitting at 90 degrees to the trains direction, facing the doors. They are faster than the belt system but are not free. You would need to pay to use it but a small train would take you quicky to the station you want and it would take you to different lines so you wouldn't do much walking.
The final tier of the transport system would be the same as the second tier but you would be able to commute to other parts of the country.
