They are the political option. They disrupt the surface the least and so there are less political objections even though they cost more around the world.
Tunneling engineers do what the customer says. They will tell you what the options are and what they cost then let the customer choose the evpensive option if they want. Their job isn't to choose between options it is to eliminate the impossible (unsafe) ones and let the customer choose the pros andecons of the rest.
That over 90% of projects are using TBMs strongly suggests they're usually the better option.