The commute is slow because the light rail is slow. It's the wrong technology for commuter rail and there are too many stops. (I'm assuming you live north).

(more details: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47457884)

My commute is via car. The light rail will not speed it up, but I may do it anyhow because it's more relaxing.

My point is that closing two lanes of the interstate for over a year is a failure of maintenance, rather than anything about light rail vs. driving.