To me, that sounds like your public transportation can’t handle peak demand properly. I think that’s actually solvable by building more transportation and scheduling more trains, busses, etc.

There will of course always be a trade off between peak capacity and spending, but this isn’t any less true for cars.

Commuting from certain suburbs into downtown Vancouver is great - a real train with many sections having tables and power outlets. Pretty much everyone gets a seat.

But if you're in other areas, getting into Vancouver is like you described. There's options for more light rail around here but no political will to get it done.