Despite being out on an open street, Billy suddenly felt very cornered and uncomfortable. Small, might have been another way of putting it. The girl in front of him was like an incarnation of everything that he hated about The City. She didn't know who he was, she wasn't afraid of him, and she didn't believe in him, either.
When his eyes squinted open and shut a few times, he might have been actually blinking an SOS signal.
When he spoke it was barely audible: "A flying rail system isn't fiscally possible or practical. It wouldn't even be on a rail, it wouldn't even be able to navigate the shifting streets of The City without getting lost like everyone else. You people don't even care, do you? You got your big... darn... heroes and the rest doesn't even matter."
Billy was backed up against the van as though half expecting to find out she was some sort of super hero herself. Then there would be a beating. Maybe a car thrown at his head. That was never fun.