The numbers are pretty different, though. A subway driver might make $50K/yr and the train has a thousand people, with short runs at high frequency. A long haul flight will have 300-400 passengers for hours and 3-4 pilots each making $250K/yr.
It's a bit more lopsided in the US. A regional carrier pilot makes peanuts (due to how they are paid, only when wheels are up, there have been pilots effectively paid lower than minimum wage). At regular carrier like American/United/Alaska, pilots make waaaaay more. A captain may make half a mil. If you can suffer through the regionals and make your way up the ranks, it eventually pays off.
