You are much better off using a Pixel with GrapheneOS as far as privacy and security are concerned. Believe it or not, Google Pixels are the best smartphones to use de-googled. Truly outstanding.
Look up why Graphene team only supports these phones, it's on their FAQ page.
Definitely try it, using NixOS after the "horrors" of Arch feels much more secure. Your system is basically unbreakable, not unintentionally, at least.
At this point I am not sure we are talking about the same thing. The picture in the post clearly represents European trams. I have not witnessed one argument with a driver despite using European public transport on a daily basis.
Self-driving future doesn't seem to be that far away, and I imagine it to be even simpler on rails. Either way, the key is to get people off those nasty things they call "cars" and take it from there.
Definitely try "Read You"! It utilises Material You, has a sick UI and the dev is really nice. I think there are a lot of features, but I've just left almost everything on default.
You are absolutely correct, you got both of them right!