I am writing this post from a subway train in New York City. Did you know it is possible to have more than one subway line? Wild! And when they connect to each other, you can take trains to a lot more places. Seattle should really give this a try.
I’m here for fun and not for work, and yet so far I have ridden a very old choo choo (a 91-year-old subway train rolled out for a “nostalgia ride”) and spent two hours in the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn. This is apparently what I do for fun.
By the way, the next time someone asks why it takes us so long to build subway lines these days, refer them to information about the working conditions for people building the early New York subway lines. You can build subway lines very quickly if you don’t mind killing a bunch of workers and damaging nearby structures.
I’ll be back late on Wednesday, so expect the blog to be back to full speed just in time for the holiday break.
Comments
7 responses to “Being a transit geek in NYC”
“By the way, the next time someone asks why it takes us so long to build subway lines these days, refer them to information about the working conditions for people building the early New York subway lines. You can build subway lines very quickly if you don’t mind killing a bunch of workers and damaging nearby structures.” – or you can build it for less more quickly in Western Europe where worker safety standards are at least as high (https://www.constructiondive.com/news/us-rail-projects-take-longer-cost-more-than-those-in-other-countries/605599/)
Wonder if NIMBY translates as well?
Wild!
Seattle would have a much more extensive rapid transit system now if Seattle voters hadn’t turned down votes in 1968 and 1970 for a transit system that would have been largely paid by the federal government. That money went to Atlanta instead to help build the MARTA system. One of the worst voting decisions by residents of an American city ever.
The FT votes were countywide. The FT alignments were far superior to those being implemented by ST. FT proposed a subway or heavy rail. It was only in King County. It required a 60 percent majority as it was bond measure. It was not until the early 90s that the Legislature allowed the RTA sales tax authority that could be approved by a simple majority.
But note that Atlanta got MARTA but they also generated sprawl by greatly expanding its limited access highway network. We got sprawl as well. In 2007, the forced marriage that was the joint ballot measure between RTID and ST2 failed. ST2 passed alone in 2008. The legislature has since funded the limited access highway expansions. The 2016 state measure that allowed ST3 also funded freeways.
That museum is the best
Yep, also recommend basically everything Alon Levy has written on this topic.
US transit construction costs are nuts compared to most developed countries. The left, unfortunately, has taken the wrong lesson from this, and wants to throw more money and mandates at agencies. A smarter approach would be to figure out why our public agencies are sclerotic and ineffective at project delivery, and fix those problems. I’m not holding my breath.