Theres a couple things wrong with regional transit in the US
* it's rarely the fastest way to get to your destination, wherever it may be, so doesn't attract passengers
* to build on the above points, the suburbanization of jobs in recent decades has reduced the ability of transit to compete, since transit mostly performs best heading quickly into congested city centers; suburbs are also diffuse, which make them hard to serve with frequent transit
* labor productivity in US transit is really low. as a general example, in the US most commuter rail systems still check individual tickets on every journey, which is very labor intensive. EU systems tend to use proof-of-payment, which basically means most of the time you're on the honor system, but if a roving inspector catches you without a ticket you'll get charged a punitive fine worth several months of fares. transit unions are probably one of the few US unions with teeth left, and they fight anything perceived as cutting jobs.
* US systems charge flat rates as a kind of social policy for the poor, which is good for them but bad for the balance sheet
one thing to note is that pretty much all the North American agencies on the list, unlike most of the Asian and European ones also on the list, integrate bus operations, and bus operations pretty much never make money due to the lower passengers per driver and high fuel costs.
Why are the US regional transit ratios so low? They're taking in real money, yet the costs are 4-5x the revenue.