for capital costs, the stuff  bonds pay for, a bus might cost 1/3 as much as a rail car. It only needs to last 1/4 as long as a rail car to compete on capital costs, since you don't have to pay for its replacement until you need it. There's also the cost of land acquisition and construction for trains, which for buses would be put into rolling stock.

Have you found any good comparisons that break down the total costs for bus vs LRT? I'm having troubles finding ones that include the ALL of the initial capital costs, operating costs and at least some discussion of debt service.