NO CITY seems more dependent on the car than Phoenix, the state capital of Arizona, with its 4.3 million people sprawling over 2,969 sq. km – an area five times the size of East Lothian.

Currently, there is resistance to the surge in house building in East Lothian. But our rate doesn’t compare to Phoenix. Driven by sun-belt industries, growth has been four per cent each year for the last 40 years, more than twice East Lothian’s average. Their GDP stands at $215bn, pretty close to Scotland’s $233bn.

The difference is that, profligate as they are with desert to do this in, they plan well ahead, laying out street grids, motorways, utilities and other infrastructure, around which large, self-contained tract developments around golf-courses, lakes, etc are then built.

Here, we do it on the cheap, squeezing in housing only; and no jobs – let alone any infrastructure – that create sustainable communities with long-term green futures.

But all of this depends heavily on the automobile – and, by extension, cheap petrol (currently selling for $2 per US gallon, about 40p per litre). Should fuel (or water) ever become scarce or even approach prices common here, their economy would become fragile and the lifestyle of two cars, air conditioning and swimming pools. But, until then, the city is a magnet for business and ambition, with the median household income at $58,497 (£46,000).

But what is perhaps most surprising is to find this city so wedded to the car can teach us a thing or two about public transport.

Their Valley Metro equivalent to Lothian runs bus services across the main grid. But Phoenix has also invested in trams. And, despite the fact their population is far more dispersed than Edinburgh, their Metro Light Rail could teach Edinburgh Trams a thing or two, as shown below: - Started: Phoenix Metro Light Rail, March 2005; Edinburgh Trams, June 2008.

- Completed: Phoenix, December 2008; Edinburgh, May 2015.

- Track Length: Phoenix, 26.3 miles; Edinburgh, 8.7 miles.

- Stations: Phoenix, 35; Edinburgh, 15.

- Average Speed: Phoenix, 18 mph; Edinburgh, 12 mph.

- Daily Ridership: Phoenix, 43,500; Edinburgh, 14,700.

- End-to-End Fare (Single/All-Day): Phoenix, $2/$4 (£1.60/£3.20); Edinburgh, £5.50/£9.

- Project Cost: Phoenix, £960,000,000; Edinburgh, £780,000,000.

Not only was it built faster and cheaper per mile but it runs faster and cheaper too. Unlike Edinburgh seven-segment cars, MVLR’s three-segment cars can run faster, are easier to maintain and can be ganged together in trains of two or three to cope with rush hour. It shouldn’t take a car-fixated city like Phoenix to tell us how to run a railroad.