Let’s be honest: the implication of this article is that Democrats are no more committed to ordinary people than Republicans; they just take different bribes. Who’s going to vote for that? If we want to take back our country from Republicans we better demonstrate we can clean our own house.
1
A wonderful and desperately needed article.
Now, can I write one??
The New York City subway. Fix it now or New York City, as we know it, will cease to exist.
No charge.
1
Great article that explores the complexity of the subway in a concise manner. The machine shop piece was fascinating. Although the subway has tons of problems, it is still amazing that it runs relatively OK every day.
I live Upstate, but I gladly give taxes for the subway. It is the backbone of NYC. If NYC falters, the entire state will be brought down, leaving Upstate struggling more than it already is. Unfortunately, many people are still stuck in the 70s when the City took more than it provided. The complete opposite is true now.
2
I lived in NYC in the 90s and the subways were already a hot mess. Now, almost 20 years later, New Yorkers are still debating whether to fix the mess?
1
I was a kid in New York in the '50s and '60s. I love the subway! I often ignored the signs and rode between the cars, loving the roar going through the tunnels and the floor vibrating beneath my feet. I didn't have that "Mom, dad, can you drive me to..." problem that suburban kids have. I could get myself to different programs for kids uptown at Columbia and downtown at NYU. And I could visit the Strand bookshop whose obituary I just read in the Times. And also wander among the theaters and the perpetual "going out of business" shops of Times Square. I confess, to visit my friend on the east side I had to take a crosstown bus rather than a subway, but the buses were great, too. (Less interesting, though, because they didn't have all that wonderful machinery controlling them, like the little yellow T-shaped things under the track that would raise themselves to operate a brake in the cars if the train ran a red light. And the counterclockwise-thread light bulbs so people wouldn't steal them.)
Now I live in California, which has its own virtues (no snow! and the Exploratorium). But I visit the city whenever I can, to gorge on theater (thank you, TDF) and museums. And I still love the subway. I'm sad to read about all the problems, but I'm astonished that you have to make the case that fixing the subway is a better choice than not having the subway!
I'm now old enough that I notice things like the lack of elevators. But I'll never stop loving the subway.
1
Almost 80% of trips in NYC are not by subway. We need to examine that aspect of life in the city.
This is my first comment since I have become subscriber. I have never seen a piece of writing that is so overly-sentimental and cloying and yet so lacking in reasons and arguments. At painful length, it recounts all the technical details and minutiae of the subway system that, frankly, no one living in a normal city in 21st century would have to know, unless he or she is a trained civil engineer. But, of course, our “precious” NYC is no ordinary city. The author keeps stressing the “long history” of the system, as if it is the one thing that is unforeseeable, as if people just did not see it coming that with passage of time things get old and become less reliable, and as if that just excuses and absolves all the faults/responsibilities of the MTA.
To continue the comical absurdity, it goes on spreading the myth that it is modern day “marvel” to have a massive subway system that allows passages transit long distance inside a big city through multiple different lines from convenient points of connection. Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney, London, Pairs...the public transit system in every major mega city, old or new, has managed, without trapping people inside tunnel everyday.
The piece never answers 1)what kind of subway system we need in future? 2) what’s the cost? 3) how we arrive at that figure? 4) can we afford it? 5) if we can’t, what’s reason? Can we cut costs? 6) and MOST IMPORTANTLY, if the MTA can’t do its job, why can’t we replace it with an entity actually competent?????
2
The subway has been a mess for at least 5 years but for some reason is only now getting noticed by the press and politicians. Our ride from 75th Avenue in Forest Hills, Queens to 63rd St in Manhattan should take 25 minutes. Often it takes my husband over an hour to get home because there just aren't enough "F" trains and when one comes in he can't even get on it and must wait for another and sometimes another.
The government is still Manhattan centric with extension of the line across 34th street and the creation of the 2nd Avenue Subway and yet most people NYC don't live there. And spending billions on a connection between the LIRR and Grand Central Terminal? Why?
This was an excellent and much-needed article. Transportation geographers (I am one) have long understood the nexus between property development and transport systems. I don’t think we Americans have the political will to create a system like in Hong Kong, where the transit operator directly benefits from the increased value of property around transit stations, but we need to start to move in that direction.
This otherwise well researched story was marred by a blooper in the last paragraph, where he incorrectly wrote that “in most other cities . . . subway lines operate independently.” European, Canadian, and even most large US systems are integrated. I spend a lot of time in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where there is total integration not only across modes (regional rail, subway, bus, tram) but also between neighboring municipal networks. Take a look: https://goo.gl/images/cshupH
2
This entire article article ignores labor costs, both MTA employees and those of contractors. Recent NYT articles details infrastructure costs 4X those of other major cities with featherbedding the prime reason. Add MTA salaries (+healthcare and pensions) at least double private industry or other subway systems and you have the prime reason money is short. These costs are political, buying votes today and hoping our kids will pay! Now the funds have run out.
6
My solution? I drive in Manhattan. Sorry... carbon be damned... I refuse to be treated like cattle in the rat infested, stool smeared, stinky hole that is our subway system. My car is my friend and gets me where I need to go.
2
That's okay, driving in Manhattan is its own punishment.
1
Really? How long does it take for your friend to get you there? Because nearly every time I've made the mistake of driving into Manhattan -- usually just to connect with the bridge or tunnel that's going to get me out of Manhattan again -- I've said, "Wow, what a mistake."
1
Enjoy the horrendous traffic on the roads.
Worth reading:
"How Out of Control Gentrification is Helping Create NYC's Subway Crunch"
Village Voice 9/13/17
2
How much (trillions $) was wasted on the useless invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan?
How much (trillions $) was wasted on the useless Space Shuttle and on the useless International Space Station?
Time to spend on something useful, like subways and other infrastructures.
When will the full 2nd Avenue subway line be completed?
What about the Access to the Region's Core Project (ARC), the Northeast Corridor (NEC) Gateway Program, the Hudson Tunnel Project, the Portal Bridge Replacement Project, ...?
6
This is a beautifully written piece, as NYT articles often are but there were a few things left out. While the subway first opened in 1904, the City was already served by a booming mass transit system of elevated railways and street car lines. Certainly, not as efficient as the subways, the City’s electric rail system provided a hell of a jumpstart.
In the decades between the first subway line and 1947, politicians allowed the subway to stagnate even as new lines were being built. Riding the subway through WW2 on the same nickel it cost for a trip prior to WW1 has to be one of the longest-running bargains on record but it also helped starve the two private companies – the IRT and BMT – into bankruptcy.
Social change, managerial ineptitude and lack of adequate funding sent the massive system into a tailspin in the 1970s. As the article highlighted, Mr. Ravitch was instrumental in obtaining the funding needed for the replacement of tracks, signals and the overhaul and purchase of subway cars. Nowhere is it mentioned however, that Robert Kiley, David Gunn and Peter Stangl were actually the transit managers who rolled up their sleeves and put that money to good use. They also helped gain further funding. They were highly effective because they were not forced to follow the marching orders of politicians who valued fluff over substance. Can the same be said today?
4
Promote a Super Subway Day. Every rider take a can of Lysol wipes into their subway station and clean for an hour. One million man hours will brighten everything. It could be an annual event. Take pride is whose subway stop is the cleanest, brightest, etc. Not a fix but people might change their habits and keep the stations cleaner. Those pictures are insane.
2
This is New York you're talking about.
1
It's not the engineering or the unions. It's certainly not the people on the ground doing the dirty and dangerous work. It's the politics at every level. People getting easy money and not feeling any responsibility to the public that rides the subway and pays the taxes providing the money. And no responsibility for the future health of the subway, city, or country. This is why costs are so high.
Political and management decisions consistently undermine the health of the system. This includes the decisions by the governor now.
4
Excellent article; however, any discussion on financing of the subway without an equal expose on highway financing is incomplete. Transit and driving are the flip sides of the same coin. Every dollar we spend on “fixing” the BQE or “solving” traffic or funding the hugely expensive Access-a-ride is a dollar we don’t spend on wheelchair access to subway stations, computerized train monitoring, or new subway cars.
3
All new money for the subways should be spent on upgrading the signaling system. A modern signaling system would allow trains to run more often therefore reducing over crowding.
1
It's all about money. Developers have been building in Areas close to Manhattan. Two to five stops to Manhattan has seen High Rises built and the Stations in those communities upgraded. But go to Parts of Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx that are a 40-60 minutes to Manhattan Developers are not building there and the stations in those Neighborhoods are jus Now starting to get attention after Decades od dispair. Without The Subway System NYC becomes another city struggling.
It is going to take reformers elected to office to solve the subway problems- those who are willing to publically take on the unions and all the other special interests.
I worked for NYC Transit from 1988 to 2012. I was present when David Gunn fixed the then failing system. It took money, and it took talent. Over time, I watched initiatives like the "Business Service Center" erode the ability of dedicated employees to service our IT Structure and our Employment/Payroll Processing (I worked in both areas). The consolidates for efficiency were ALWAYS consolidations of Power by those who were arrogantly ignorant of what is needed to function with efficiency and effectiveness. To bring the system back, we will again, need money, AND Talent.
1
As a lifelong subway rider, I have seen the subway go from horrible to better to even more horrible in the many decades I’ve been using the system.
The state of the subways is not lack of money. It is a lack of will by the government–at every level– to take control and spend resources where it’s most needed.
The construction of the #7 extension to the Hudson Yards was a flagrant waste of money for a billionaires’ subway stop. The area could have been covered or the minuscule amount of a new bus route. That money should’ve been spent on things we can’t see, like the switches and general modernization of the system.
The subway is the lifeblood of NYC, as you point out. To ignore it will be to the peril of us all.
7
Mahler quotes David Walentas on the need for more of the wealth that the subway generates to flow back into the system.
A century earlier Henry George perceived that landholders were capturing the increase in societal wealth as the City was being built. George campaigned to get the City to tax away the increase in the value of land that results from the increase in economic activity.
He ran for New York City mayor in 1886, coming in second behind the Tammany Hall candidate. Theodore Roosevelt who later became President of the United States came in third.
Later in the article Mahler quotes the Fiscal Policy Institute to the effect that the share of the country's income going to the top 1 percent has increased. He also states that the land in New York City is worth $2.5 trillion.
A sufficient tax on land would pay for the operation of the subway as well as other societal functions while bringing down the high price of land.
Less car traffic and more easily accessible above ground light rail in each borough is needed.
Mahler quotes David Walentas on the need for more of the wealth that the subway generates to flow back into the system.
A century earlier Henry George perceived that landholders were capturing the increase in societal wealth as great cities are built. George campaigned to get the City to tax away the increase in the value of land that results from human society. He ran for New York City mayor in 1886, coming in second behind the Tammany Hall candidate. Theodore Roosevelt who later became President of the United States came in third.
Later in the article Mahler quotes the Fiscal Policy Institute to the effect that the share of the country's income going to the top 1 percent has increased. He also states that the land in New York City is worth $2.5 trillion.
A sufficient tax on land would pay for the operation of the subway as well as other societal functions while bringing down the high price of land.
2
Great article . I would like to know how ofter board members of the MTA ride the subways and the trains
1
Speaking as someone who lives in Georgia, I agree the subway is important enough for the federal government to provide financial support for its renovation; however given that it costs mta 7 times the worldwide average to add a mile of subway (5 times more than France, widely recognized as experts at inefficiency!), I believe NYC/mta should gets its house in order before the federal government steps up to the plate. Seeing 86% of every dollar siphoned off through fraud, corruption and inefficiency is a bit much to tolerate. Unfortunately for NYC, as long as cuomo and deblasio are wholly owned subsidiaries of the unions, I don't see any improvement on the horizon.
Citizens united should be overturned, but not for the reasons this paper advocates. Recent surveys of top political donors place unions way ahead of evil corporations, and they clearly have the power to cause much more mischief. The reality that is becoming clear is that corporations get far more bang for their buck from paying lobbyists than donating to campaigns.
6
To raise morale, MTA employees should be allowed to start pension benefits on the day of hire.
2
Long time subway lover. From 1978 to 1980 I lived in a nice apartment on a reasonable block in an otherwise bombed out neighborhood called Ft. Greene. But every day I rode the D train, in the new (then) R34 cars over the Manhattan Bridge. Every train stopped at either Atlantic Ave or Pacific St. (both now called Barclay, I think). For 50 cents I could take the A Train to my grandmother's place up by Ft. Tryon, or meet her at The Russian Tea Room. These days I still love that there is one fare, no matter the distance. That works: those of us who only use the subway in Manhattan are subsidizing people who have further to travel. Please do whatever it takes to keep this amazing public work working for the public!
6
Back in 2003, I read this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/15/nyregion/top-mta-security-officials-ar...
I was appalled to read about the corruption and firing of whistle blowers. The crazy thing was and still is that even when the paper writes about the blatant corruption and sun shines on it, nothing changes.
7
Corruption and criminal incompetence. These three words neatly summarize the crux of the problem - and yet, they are nowhere to be found in this longwinded NYT article. Corruption and criminal incompetence have become virtually synonymous to "big city government". Boston's Big Dig, New York's East Side Access, California's High Speed Rail, Honolulu's Rail Transit - the list can go on and on - all comically expensive and behind schedule, all manifestations of the same ill. The lack of statesmanship and effective governance on part of our civic leaders is staggering; instead, their minds seem to be permanently locked into the vicious re-election cycle. Should we just write off the $3.5 billion per mile cost of tunneling under NYC as an unavoidable cost of democracy - or should we start holding our government officials criminally accountable for wasting and misappropriating our money?
7
This article reminds me of the quote from Simeon Strunsky in his 1944 book, No Mean City.
People who want to understand democracy should spend less time in the library with Aristotle and more time on the buses and in the subway.
Perhaps it should be updated for today's times?
7
This is for the commenter who wondered how the New York Subway looks to visitors from overseas.
My wife and I live in Taipei and it was a bizarre experience to go from Taipei Metro to the New York Subway last month, when we were home for the holidays.
Taipei Metro is clean, cheap, friendly, frequent, always on time, never delayed. Upbeat little jingles play when you tap your payment card at the fare gate or when a train is arriving (behind platform screen doors, of course). The whole system has a thought-out customer experience, like someone actually wants you to be there. After a year riding Taipei Metro, it’s hard to even understand what New Yorkers mean when they say the subway is delayed. It just doesn’t make sense. Why not just take the next train in 2 minutes? Oh right, the whole line is blocked...
Last month in New York, it all came flooding back (too real!): almost comically dirty and run down, with trash all over the stations and tracks, unfriendly and oppressive, downright dystopian. Charmingly dystopian, in a kind of take it or leave it New York way, but dystopian nonetheless. All that, for just *six times* the price of a ride on Taipei Metro.
A lot of folks back home kept asking us: why Taiwan? These sorts of stark quality-of-life disparities are part of the reason.
13
For all of the articles the NYT has done on the subway (thank you), I see very few, if any suggestions to do what every other major subway line in the world does: pay by distance. It's outrageous, in 2018, that someone can come Eastern Queens to Manhattan and pay the same as a person travelling from 42nd St to 50th St in The City.
4
I think we ought to subcontract all of our important engineering jobs such as building subways to countries like China or France. This is ridiculous; a situation out of control. We seem to be grossly overstaffed for these jobs and really cannot sustain all manners of corruption in building our transportation systems. No wonder people are having second thoughts about conducting businesses or living and working in NYC. Who can afford it?
3
I've read a few comments from non-New Yorkers who don't want to share their tax dollars to fix the subway. Guess what guys! We give more money to red states than you give to us. Maybe we should keep our tax dollars for ourselves. That would more than pay to fix the subways. And Bill in Colorado, same goes for you.
9
This article is very well researched and beautifully written. For everyone who is still following Ayn Rand’s Libertarian stupidity, or subscribes to a rigid anti-tax stance with religious fervor, it’s an object lesson on the economic perils of selfishness. It’s also a withering portrait of Andrew Cuomo. I hope high school teachers schedule it into their government classes.
8
If you're interested in petitioning Governor Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio and NY State Legislators to stop wasteful and abusive transportation spending --sign this change.org petion:
https://www.change.org/p/ny-legislature-stop-corrupt-practices-abusive-s...
2
Fire the MTA first, please. Thanks.
5
What are we waiting for?
Time to ante up.
Get going or get gone.
1
That feeling when subway in Moscow, Russia is light years ahead of New York.
4
I smell Pulitzer. This article is the essence of journalism at its finest and the NY Times is among our nation’s most important institutions right now.
7
Let's be frank: one of the wealthiest metropolises in the Western hemisphere has an infrastructure of the third world. If the term "the third world" sounds politically incorrect to you, what about the subway maintenance costs structure which resembles some subequatorial "governance" scheme.
We are all so proud of NYC when in reality we should be all ashamed how the NYC transportation skeleton smells and falls apart every day. Not to mention all those free zoological attractions ranging from rats to bedbugs.
This article is as great yet very, very sad. Where are all my taxes going?? Where are all OUR taxes going?? I pay federal, state and city taxes. I am well traveled, well read, I am the fourth generation in my family with a college degree and I have my heart on the LEFT side but ....how should I feel in a grocery store when some gal with a $400 mkors bag and an iPhone X in her hand swipes an (sic!) EBT card jumping into some acura suv 30 seconds later... I guess our "sanctuary" city is completely blind.
6
The density is blight, the living condition is nearly dire. All thing are not possible rather you are very much locked down. It's a stocked pond for developers and other capitalists to suck the money out of a vast surrounding area, skim off their huge share, and trap millions of people in dirty air and architectural schizophrenia. It's not an economic engine, it's a sinkhole and a vacuum with developers laughing all the way until their private jets touches down in the Caymans.
You learn to live without space to put away a third pair of boots and sleep in your living room, you don't cook your own food, you suffer a constant din. It's college dorm life for adults. This must be because business developers need to cram talent nearby yields the cost efficiencies that gave America a game on their phone, and $47,000,000 balloon poodles. This is the sort of living people need less of, not more.
In any case it looks like this problem is bigger than a just fresh coat of paint. Too bad for you subway, we've blow your college money on fighter jets too expensive to allowed to be used in our next needless but absurdly expensive war of choice.
2
We have no choice but to shame our public officials into action. Let's dare them to ride the subway every day for a week. Sign the petition!
http://chn.ge/2iVZ57u
4
Yet another article in the New York Times about lack of access to the subways that fails to mention Staten Island.
3
I am not a New Yorker.
I must say, I was shocked by photos showing worse than 3rd world state of this mass transit.
I just finished living in London, England.
And traveled extensively on its mass transit.
I do not ever remember seeing such a sorry state of affairs there.
However, criticism of lavish spending on London transport is growing louder in cities other than London.
These cities have transport systems that look like these photos and many have no public transport.
Actually, in England, only London has a subway.
Rest of the country is buses and trams.
All this glorification of the "Warhol economy" is a problem in London too - big time.
All English folks outside London resent what a giant sucking sound London makes in spending an outsize portion of tax pounds.
The argument there is the same made here - better transport means better jobs and a bigger economy.
It's tail wagging the dog.
What is needed is a forced or intensivised removal of industries, offices etc from a city center.
For life of me - with great advances in communication technology - why big companies, banks not move folks away from New York and yet be efficient.
Unfortunately, like Mr. Rockfeller - who made once in his life visit to a subway - powers be in New York rarely even see an asphalt as they are whisked around in limoes around town.
May be here is an idea - levy special tax on highest ranking executives to pay for mass transit that their worker bees are forced to endure.
1
The case for the SMART subway (From LeMonde, France's leading newspaper)
Le métro automatique ou la solution intelligente du mass transit d’hier et de demain (The automatic subway is the intelligent solution for mass transport now and in the future)
Mr. Mahler's article is an other fine example of the American mentality not to consult the progress that is made abroad
www.lemonde.fr/la-smart-mobility-selon-keolis/article/2017/05/23/le-metr...
2
The comments about NY not wanting to look at what the state of the art in mass transit in France or Taiwan etc are off mark based on my read of the article. It's clear that they know they need massive reinvestment - they just can't marshal the political will (ie money)
1
Now the clown-prince governor Cuomo wants to extend a subway line via a tunnel and build a station in Red Hook Brooklyn so that the state may develop the government owned land there. Ridiculous!!! How much will a tunnel to "Nowhere" cost? Multiple bilions of dollars just for one extra stop to Brooklyn! Courtesy of the American taxpayer(being ripped off). A gift to the corrupt and overpaid construction unions and mob-own concrete companies. A more logical approach would be to run a trolley line or maybe even a monorail line that connects to a Brooklyn subway station and/or ferry port, with free transfers, or make the trolley or monorail free to ride. Way cheaper. Less chance of cost over runs to the tune of billions of dollars like the past two tunnels built. Hey NY Times, look into this will you? Ask Cuomo why he wants another muliti-billion dollar tunnel and no alternatives mentioned?
1
The thing that impresses me most about this great city is not the towers, bridges, statues, sporting franchises (LOL) or stock exchanges, but the grimy 665-miles of iron and steel that someone had the fortitude and foresight to build for the brave New Yorkers who ride it everyday.
Let’s honor the legacy of our ancestors and our city by repairing and rebuilding this underground marvel. If our politicians truly understood and cared about what can make America “great”, they would support this project at every level of government.
5
I live in a medium sized European city with a metro system admittedly much smaller (and newer) than that of NYC. But this is what I've observed: near continual maintenance on one line or another, stations closed for retrofitting (which yes, is a pain, but it's supplanted by bus service); streetcar tracks frequently repaired; new cars, and new lines and stations being opened. My annual metro pass, that works on all city bus, streetcar, and metro lines, comes to well under 500 USD annually. It's paid for by taxes (which in fact aren't even that high). I think it has to do with a willingness to invest in the common good.
4
I was shocked and dismayed at the level of decay shown in the photos in this article. Certainly the subways were not "pristine" when I was a regular rider but still...
I'm sure that there's plenty of responsibility for this mess to go around. I'm not criticizing anyone in particular... but still...
I was born and have grown up in NYC having lived in every borough except Staten Island. I have my share of subway miles under my belt. I remember the 70s quite well. I remember the "new" trains with slanted ends and the now nearly forgotten "Redbirds" and World's Fair Trains.
A significant part of the change that's needed is a changing of people's mindsets. Society in general would do well to re-learn the ideals that best service community.
Sometimes we forget we get what we do or do not pay or vote for. Taxes should not represent a penalty - rather an investment in our common good. The regional & subsequently the national economy is influenced by the experiences of those moving about in NYC.
I think there needs to be an increase in the will to accomplish what needs to be done (not saying there isn't any, just not enough). I feel the "will to do" has not reached "critical mass". The public's responsibility needs to be manifest via activities including oversight while acknowledging the "we" of it all. As difficult as that can be.
NYC leads the way in so many things. I'd like to see what NYC does about this. A positive direction is in all of our best interests nationwide.
5
We have now heard about signal problems and how they will take years to fix. And, in this article, the story is told about how the technicians have to rebuild 90-year-old signal mechanisms just to keep them operating.
Has anyone thought about overriding the signals with modern technology when they go bad, instead immediately sending workers out to fix the signals? After all we could track the position of every train using GPS (for outdoor trains) and Wi-Fi (for trains in the tunnels). Can't the control center coach the motormen past the bad signal? After all air-traffic controllers guide hundreds of airplanes to land safely using radar in bad weather. And please tell me why, if we can build driver-less cars, we can't build or upgrade trains so each train's speed is automatically slowed when they are too close to the next one, without using signals? Couldn't they even run more trains on a given line if they used a similar technology to space the trains without signals?
We shouldn’t have to wait 20 years to upgrade all the signals when there are solutions available today that don’t require laying cable and replacing signals in the entire system.
It's been illuminating to see how London's Tube has expanded over the past several decades, with a new line being created today at a cost of far less than the 2nd Avenue Subway. American construction costs are utterly insane, and we all suffer for it. But not only that, we lack leadership in both Washington and Albany (and Trenton, and Harrisburg, and Hartford, etc) that sees public transit as the important and viable transportation method it is, and continually undercuts, underfunds, and mismanages it. The problem is in people's minds more than in the ground. We need recognize public transit as an important asset for our cities to thrive. There's no way around it; decades of fetishism with automobiles has ruined people's views of public transit, but when it comes down to it, moving people efficiently in trains and busses (and even on bikes) is what the future looks like. The United State has forfeited its leadership role in so many aspects of human life. What will truly "make America great" is responsible stewardship of the things make our society work, and the subway is one of those things.
4
People who have 'been there' know. My heart and respect goes out to the entire MTA workforce. They have survived decades of political failure by embracing a pride in their work as A TEST OF WILL AND INNER STRENGTH. They are people, so I hope they excuse this metaphor. Cogs need greased and their wheels aligned. Accomplish that, and they will do ONE THING WITH NEAR PERFECTION - mesh and drive the mechanism smoothly.
The long descent to the current level of degradated service means that the MTA workforce has had to step-up and step-up, just to survive the downward spiral to BREAKDOWN MAINTENANCE. That's right, the workforce's collective willpower is the remaining glue that keeps YOUR PERPETUALLY UN-resourced subway cars moving at all.
Until the political reality changes for the state's governor, ZERO PROGRESS. Until the governor's team is technically capable and financially sound WITH MTA Capitalization project engineers / contracting officials and ALSO 'in it for the long-haul' WITH MTA Operations and Maintenance, ZERO CHANCE OF SUCCESS.
Pataki erected the headstone; Cuomo is tending the grave site; and the MTA subway workforce remains buried alive. Give those workers and NYC hope! The right governor with the right team needs to step forward.
2
Trump has mentioned about spending massive amounts of money on repairing infrastructure. OK, though I'm not sure where this money will come from as it will likely take us further into hock, it actually sounds like a good idea. Maybe there can be another WPA where the un- and under-employed can be put to work.
Except that those who would responsible for controlling the purse strings either have never ridden the subway or wouldn't be caught dead riding it, being chauffeured around in a gas-guzzling SUV or limousine being the preferred method of transit. My guess is that Trump, New York born and bred, rarely if ever rode the subway. How dare he and they associate with the hoi polloi!
And, of course, as the subway is in the bluest city in one of the bluest states in the land, that guarantees we'll be lucky if we get the scraps. We'll get another Bridge to Nowhere before the subway gets its necessary repairs.
Thank you for a superb article. I hope all levels of our governments takes the appropriate steps to maintain and enhance the tristate areas rolling jewel.
3
On a service so crucial to the economy, an argument can be made for funding the system from property taxes, so that if you own a condo you might pay $300 more per year in taxes. A full capacity system would then be able to end fares altogether, but this seems to be a ways off for NYC.
However, when I last visited NYC, I was impressed with its good points. NYC has many subway stations right off the sidewalk, a great convenience, and runs many express trains, which are a great efficiency.
I liked the stainless steel cars which very durable and easy to clean.
Major amounts of whitewash, tiles and paint at stations could do wonders until signals and trains are replaced, hopefully with lighter, durable gear that can last 50 years. I'm not convinced that heavy trains are needed to move fairly light people.
I was very surprised to find almost no escalators or elevators for the disabled or those with packages to carry.
2
Experts should add up the entire renewal budget, cut the frills and divide by 20 to figure out how much to spend per year, going forward. This needs to be added to expansion costs.
Other cities are looking at future taxes on inflated surrounding land values, as a way of funding subways. NYC has this in spades.
My uneducated thought is that subways should develop sideways to add express tracks right beside the milk runs tracks, wherever they safely can. An express track could skip 9 out of 10 stations, delivering many more people in a fraction of the time.
I find the last picture in this article very fitting - the blurry, shaky city skyline and train cars. How apt, considering the productivity, accessibility, and very core of this city and its subway system are on shaky ground. Seems like only time will tell whether our transportation horizons will stabilize or grow even shakier.
1
I lived in New York in the 70's. The subways were (usually) usable but pretty unpleasant, and one had to always be thinking about personal safety. It was kind of a miracle of civic will when millions were found to rehab the system in the 80's. It's going to take something like that again. Cities that just building up their transit rail systems, such as Los Angeles, Denver, and Seattle, seem to be willing to spend the money. New York's construction costs are too high, but it's going to take more than attacking MTA workers to get the resources to fix such a big, old system.
Thanks for noting the disabled accessibility problem of the New York subway. My semi-disabled wife has a very hard time when we visit New York. Other old rail transit systems, like Chicago and Berlin, have been pretty seriously retrofitting for accessibility. MTA has said it's harder to retrofit underground, but something like 40% of the stations in the New York system are actually above ground.
Many commenters have said that everybody knows that New York depends on the subway--why does the Times even need to demonstrate that? Maybe so, but the Governor and the Mayor can't seem to muster enough urgency about it to reach agreement between their competing proposals (congestion pricing and an income tax surcharge on the affluent respectively) to raise money.
3
The success formula used in many Asian countries which creates profitable reliable clean subways systems seems to be to choose a company to design, build and operate it for government. Using this in NYC approach would effectively reset the major wage misspending going on now while simultaneously building in profit and efficiency motivators. However, the deciding question would have to be whether the outcome is more beneficial even with a private-profit-motivated operator in charge.
If the system currently wastes 50% of its funds on ballooned wages and a private operator would want only 10% in annual profits, the decision is a no-brainer. It's time to call tender for a new operator.
Increasingly, it seems that government will look to offload its poor collective agreements and their long-term mis-spending by contracting out everything from small to very large services.
New private sector skilled staff will be well-paid, but not obscenely so.
One would logically think that gov. could operate less expensively in-house, but time and time again we see that this just isn't so.
2
Seems crazy to me that New York State government controls a regional transportation authority like MTA. There is no way that works politically. Here in Illinois we have the same Chicago/Downstate political dichotomy you New Yorkers have. But public transportation in NE Illinois is controlled by the Regional Transportation Authority with its own budget, bonding authority and dedicated sales tax revenue--not the State of Illinois. Below the RTA, the CTA, Metra and Pace boards consist of directors appointed by the local counties and the City of Chicago. There seems to be much more local authority and accountability here than in NY that I think leads to better decision-making about the allocation of scarce financial resources.
2
The less you push for the use of the development projects (Walentas family company) and infrastructure improvements (subway and the whole MTA) for social engineering purposes, the greater will be the support they get from the voters and legislators. Ours is a money- and profit-driven society; creating entitlements like super-affordable housing (which with 80K applications for 80 apartments doesn't resolve any problems and only aggravates 99% of the applicants) at the expense of every other tenant in the building, is much worse for the city than getting all these apartments market-priced and using the full amount of the property tax (maybe with the "location" surcharge, even) to improve the subway.
1
Sorry, but I feel zero sympathy on this topic because a notable percentage pf the financial power of the NY metro area is built around tax avoidance. You need to change that, collect the taxes, and pay for yourselves, as we do out here in "flyover" country. Specifically, NY, NJ and CT are home to a huge percentage of the tax avoidance class composed of members of private equity who get huge breaks for passive passthrough entities, plus the many raking in huge 2/20 advisory fees for pensions but claiming the carried interest tax dodge. https://www.interviewprivateequity.com/top-private-equity-firms-new-york.... Change the tax laws, and you'll have ample money.
1
Perhaps, and probably, the city is not meant to survive. Regardless of what happens to the other boroughs, Manhattan is going to be submerged by rising waters.
Any vision for a transit system must have it running above ground --across bridges, trestles, or along any solid ground or even suspended in the air from buildings, etc. Many of our answers to the subway and transit can be found in the old exhibits such as the GM Futurama at the New York World's Fair.
The Kenner Toy company also brought us a transit world on the ground and through the air with rails in the air suspended from buildings, towers, etc.
With rising waters across the globe and all of the recent past and present flooding of subway stairs, tunnels, lines, tracks, etc., no right-thinking person is going to trust their transit, commute, livelihood, etc. to any below ground mass transit/subway system. In the face of nature it does not make sense to be digging holes in the ground just to prove that holes can be dug in the ground.
1
I don't think any state or even city official truly realizes how badly the city needs the subway.
I moved to New York in 2013. Even considering the exorbitant rent, long winters, ~60 hour work week... I loved it all. I'm really convinced the thing that really drove me to leave was the state of the public transit. The number of delays, closures, unplanned for ubers... Sure, every city has their pitfalls that need to be negotiated. But as a commuter in New York, there's no negotiating. You're solely at the mercy of politicians who have been taking black cars for decades.
I really hope the subway can be fixed sometime in the future, when it works it really is wonderful but as it stands, the complete lack of control over one's time really got to me in a way I did not anticipate. After moving to L.A., yes I deal with traffic but even that feels more hopeful than being stuck underground on an F train for the third time in one week.
3
There are some obvious ways to fix the subway.
1) Raise the fare and use the money to support capital improvements: seems obvious that the people who use the system should pay for it. Currently fares pay for only about 25% of the subway cost (operations and capital). Doubling the fare would provide an extra $5 Billion/yr, enough to fund a 20 yr improvement program to do everything the Regional Plan association recommended in the article.
2) Close all the manned subway metrocard booths, and require people to buy a metrocard from a machine. Eliminating the booth workers would save over a quarter $ Billion/year
3) Like all other mass transit systems in the world, institute distance pricing so the longer you ride the more you pay, which would provide more money to improve the system. This could provide an extra $2 billion/yr.
4) Close the system for 4 hrs at night to allow total track trash removal and routine maintenance.
1
This article comically misses one of the most salient points of our subway's history --almost all the track, infrastructure, and stations are the legacy of when the system was built by PRIVATE entities. The problems really began when the system was acquired by the government and now is run for the benefit of the corrupt unions, the venal politicians on their payroll, and the mobbed-up construction companies.
We are living off the investment of the past -- despite record levels of ridership the system is broke and run-down but until the current insane union-led corruption is replaced how can any amount of money save it? The dream for the MTA and its related parties is to plead poverty and have tens of billions poured into the system with its current mechanism of waste and patronage in place, ensuring an endless amount of riches. Given the Times wonderful reporting last week on why the system is broken, this article in comparison is childish in its understanding of what the real structural problems are.
Get the unions, consultants and politicians out of it and you could get it done for 25% of the price. Like hogs at the trough, they feed off public works projects. And there’s no money to be made by this triumvirate to operate the subways efficiently or effectively, so the answer is always build, build, build.
1
“Trains started at Yankee Stadium and went down the D line to 36th Street, then switched over to the M line to Coney Island, then continued through the Coney Island terminal, before switching to the Q line to Brighton Beach."
There is currently no M route to Coney Island. The Sea Beach Line (N) would be a logical route to using Brighton Beach as a terminal from the south. I'm sure that's what Mr Diamond said.
A Max Diamond wouldn’t remember, but the bad outcomes the article suggests was the way it was in NYC in the 1970s.
Just a handful of experiences I've had, aside from massive delays & utterly unreliable service: A entire station that reeks of vomit for an entire week before it's hosed down. Getting felt up by men throwing themselves on me then rubbing themselves on me. Mentally ill uncared-for homeless people on nearly every car in a city with more homeless every month. Rats swimming in the tracks. Riding with sudden jerks, squeals, stops, start. And above all: NEVER knowing if you will be on time for work & budgeting in an extra hour every time I go out anywhere. It is hands down the most stressful experience of living in New York & it is one almost exclusively enduring by the lower classes.
One of the biggest problems with the subway is that the elite/upper class don't use it. Thus those with the most power have the least at stake, both personally & politically. For them, there are far more pressing problems than the 2 hour ride the masses must take to work (because real estate is prohibitively expensive, so we must live further out). If the workers can't make it to work reliably, no biggie--the elites will just complain that Americans are 'lazy' & import more migrants, then fire them if *they* are late.
Everyone in power should be required to use the subway to work, & their kids should be required to use it to school. Let them do this for a month. Then see how fast the money is found for repairs & how quickly this disgustingly corrupt bloated quid pro quo fat-lining money pit falls.
12
We were all born with a method of transportation. Save your money and walk off that fat, America!
1
Nothing personal Andy, but if your office is not in your home, when is the last time you didn’t use a car to get to your job?
3
Yes, rebuild, but appoint a “clerk of the works,” who makes sure that a bolt or screw does not cost $1,000 the true price is $1. Lots of greed at work here.
6
“New York City and its environs generated $1.7 trillion in gross metropolitan product in 2016.”
Pleeeeeeese stop. NYC is home to some of the worst parasitic industries. For example, they gave us the Financial Crisis.
4
Here we go again. Our politicians always the truth to keep being reelected. Every major policy has been underfunded, Social Security, Medicare, local Infrastructure, pensions. All underfunded, because what do the ignorant voters know. Well, we know plenty when the roof caves in. So now what? How do we fix 50 years of unfunded liabilities?
3
Let's also get real about riders. People don't know how to get on and off a train. Jerks hold the doors open. The ever present "sick passenger" is killing us. Some conductors drive too slow. Some workers take too long to close the doors.
3
The contraction or growth that the subway's health brings is oversimplified. This is especially true of East New York. This whole transformation of the neighborhood seems like in the sky. We'll see. Also, the M line doesn't go to Coney Island nor does it pass 36th Street in Brooklyn, but the N does.
2
Today the 2/3 train during rush hour was not working from Harlem. Commuters stuck on the platform with no communication of why the train was not running. No advocacy at all by Harlem elected officials. Can the NY Times ask Harlem elected officials like Council Member Perkins, Assembly Member Inez Dickens and Senator Benjamin what their transportation plan is and how will they make bus & train travel better for their constituents?
1
Just do it! Stop giving thirty one billion dollars a year in Foreign Aid to the United Nations and the new rebuild would be paid off within 4 years. Make America great again!
4
A first step in America great would be to dump trump and his lying, rapacious minions.
1
Do you believe the current American president would put his weight behind that idea? Even though he has lived here and prospered, he wouldn’t save his hometown. Sad!
1
$100b problem causes by bloated government spending and dirty politicians kicking the can down the road year after year. Here’s an idea: shut it all down, save the money, fire every last of the 70000 ‘workers’ that us taxpayers employ, at the MTA and everyone takes an Uber to work.
2
How anyone tolerates this wreck of a system is beyond me, everyday is see little narcissistic millennials planted downward on their 21st Century devices ordering all kinds of "stuff" and putting their entire lives online. I digress, the point is, why does anyone tolerate the utter mess that this supposed "transit system" delivers ?. Its run on early 20th century technology, no money or upgrades are spent on it . Too many politicians in the city want to out do one another on who is more progressive. So every new hairbrain "program"gets the money before it does.
2
Never let a crisis go unexploited. Time for a new "subway tax".
1
Scanned 130 comments. Ughh. New Year's hopefulness evaporated,
Category 1: No help until waste is cleared. Bust all unions. Plus we hate you.
Category 2: We need more money. I can point to someone else who should pay. Plus we hate you.
Missing Category:
Basic sanity. Reduce costs reasonably + everyone pays more
10
Eliminate the union stranglehold on subway construction. End what is essentially the extortion of Democratic politicians by the Unions who they buy with their elections. Right there you can shave 1/2 of the cost. You can get it done in 1/2 the time and it will be twice as good and last far longer and be cleaner. Its really simple. Fire all the lazy people, just like the private sector does. Limousine liberals like DiBlasio don't care because the poor quality of service has no bearing on their lives. The other lower ranking pols all scam the system by extorting free parking placards, none of them ride the subway either.
6
New york is like a third world metro. Rich and poor coexist. Sad place.
1
New York City needs $100 billion to rebuild a subway that moves 6 million people a day. California is building a $100 billion (wink, wink) bullet train that is unlikely to ever move 6 million people in a year.
We California's should ash can our bullet train and loan New York City the $100 billion. A win-win deal. New York gets their state-of-the-art subway and California collects the annual interest instead of paying an annual subsidy that not even God, or Jerry Brown, could ever calculate.
Heck, New York could fund a California Ballot Proposition to do just that!
11
The City is now in the hands of the rich and the poor. Middle class people have been pushed out by the 1%ers. You must be on Gov't subsidy or be rich to live in NYC. This has been going on since the 1970s .People left NYC & LI & went 2 NC & other places, where they could afford 2 live. This article mentions the fact that some properties in NYC are $1500 per sq ft.REALLY?. Who can afford that? NYC employees make $100,000/year thanks 2 their contracts;each group has parity with another which means when 1 group gets a raise, they ALL get a raise. I have never seen a city worker "hustle" 2 earn his/her money;same goes 4 union workers. 1 reason why things are so expensive in NYC is the graft and corruption. The unions, making huge salaries, demand bribes & graft, 2 DO THEIR JOB."Construction" projects in NYC could have been completed years earlier at a fraction of the cost. The Interboro Parkway was closed 4 YEARS, & re opened as the Jackie Robinson Parkway,the only thing done in YEARS was new berms along the roadway! You expect the Subway 2 be re built?Don;t bet on it.Ragnar Benson, a survival expert , says that the next coming economic disaster will last 4 Years. The city is just "9 meals from anarchy". Once the supermarkets run out of food ( 3 days) the inhabitants of the city will riot and anarchy will reign. The 1%ers who can afford $1500 per sq ft will helicopter out 2 safety & the welfare moms & dads will eat the remaining people; I say; " good riddance to NYC!".
3
Why do you live here?
1
To be fair, “no matter the cost” may have been the product of the headline writer and not the author, but no public project is so vital that it deserves a blank check. If you authorize unlimited costs you will get unlimited costs.
Any local infrastructure can be rationalized as being in the “national” interest, but obviously New Yorkers benefit from their subway more directly than Californians who, understandably, would like to see their tax dollars fund priorities closer to home. As a matter of accountability, infrastructure funding should originate at the local or regional level. Citizens/voters/taxpayers will apply more scrutiny to a local transit project when it’s their money instead of “free” federal dollars falling from the sky.
2
That MTA worker making 125000.00 a year is their ever other night and every weekend because a shortage of employees. I don't know about you but I'd prefer to be home on the holidays with my family. Nothing is for free they deserve every penny.
27
It is the hubris that leads the author to claim New York as “the greatest city on Earth” that caused this mess of the subway et al.
2
Would it be smart to get President Trump to fix this subway problem? He could make it happen.
3
Instead of a wall, built a subway.
1
Not true
Bikes, shoes, walk
Work from home
Work in the neighborhood
Seems a bit odd to suggest people are not moving across the country to seek jobs, so why move across "greater (or less)" NYC?
Like, Brooklyn has become a nice place to live again.
Robert Moses almost destroyed downstate NY - not again?
1
First and foremost, convince with $incentives the citizens of NYC to not own cars, thus clearing the streets of parked cars rarely driven, then employ timely and efficient public transport on those freed up streets in much of the city not served by the underground system. Those emptied streets would also encourage use of battery powered bikes. Bottom line, the underground needs to be rebuilt but not at the ransom costs now demanded by contractor/union/pols cartels; so expand upon public ground transport options for all of NYC citizens and visitors as the underground is rebuilt.
2
2 of 2
II We Must Have Outstanding Intermodal Urban Mass Transit
Not necessarily rebuilding 19 & 20 c. technology to take us in the 22 c.
Here is one dramatic example (there are 100s of examples; they are technical and arcane).
Hurricane Sandy showed us how vulnerable the subterranean infrastructure of NYC is. “Weatherproofing” the subway is cost prohibitive. In 2012, however, MTA was using sandbags, plastic sheets and plywood.
The MTA strategy is to create an emergency, and then raise money, fares, float bonds, whatever, to get a repair. Allowing a disaster or decrepitude is a management technique. Just like NOW-do not fall for it!
Hurricane Sandy? There were subway tunnel plugs beforehand, why not try anything available? 3/2012 > Sandy 6 mos. http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20120329-containing-a-tunnel-f... Once the property was inundated, however, now you must fix it, job security, politicians dealing, billions of tax dollars.
That’s just one example. ALL subway signals were supposed to be upgraded years ago. The technology being installed TODAY will be obsolete before this retrofit is complete in decades.
Do not be cowed into fear, stand up and ask who knew what when and where did the money go!
We need to rethink Urban Intermodal Transit on Manhattan & NYC. Another time….
1
You'd have that new subway pretty quickly, and be debt free, if you stopped paying Foreign Aid contributions to the UN. USA citizens first.
So now all Ravitch has to do is repeat history: call up a couple of oligarchs and give them a tour of the subway. They're shocked. They pull a couple of strings in Albany to let the money flow, and voilá, things happen.
I guess that's just the way it works.
2
That is exactly correct. Rich people who care about their city and are smart and know how to get things done.
After visiting Europe and returning to the US, I can't help feel that this country is falling behind. Even Australia, a country with a fraction of the population of the US, is invested in their transit system. Many Americans don't travel so they don't see what we could have here. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.
3
"A passenger is killed on the tracks pretty much every week." That is insane. I just returned from Seoul, where over the past decade or so platform doors were installed in subway stations. Not implementing such a safety measure is blithely accepting mass casualties.
1
I was in NY in early December and was impressed with how clean the trains and stations were in Manhattan. I appreciate the city and this incredible mass transit system and (as an American) demand that the federal government stop bombing villages with million dollar bombs and spend the money on needs like the NY subway! I am a rich Republican!
2
Interesting headline claim that the subway system must be rebuilt "no matter the cost", given last week's NYT article "How excessive staffing, little competition, generous contracts and archaic rules dramatically
inflate capital costs for transit in New York."
My professional experience is not to give incompetent managers funding even if the project idea is a good one, because you won't get what you want in the end. Toss in flagrant corruption, and yes, I can understand why people object to spending billions of dollars on a failing transit system.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/nyregion/new-york-subway-construction...
2
Great article, but unfortunately, a cry in the wind. May be there will be some movement in 20 years or so, when all the people living in their Million Dollar Apartments will realize that their estates will become worthless because all the janitors, cooks, nannies, etc. are not showing up anymore. Or not - may be, NYC becomes a rich retirement community, with limited access; and people will be happy with it. Anyway, there’s also one cultural issue to address: neither in Munich , Berlin, London, Hong Kong etc. you will see trash on the tracks or in the stations, they are both spotlessly clean, and there aren’t any armies of maintenance crews running around like in NYC. Neither is there food garbage, and rats are practically unknown. It’s not only the technology and the politics which sets us apart, there are human issues which need and could be addressed more aggressively. This could start in elementary schools and be sidelined with about , for example, a $ 500 fine for littering, which is actually aggressively enforced . Thats of course more difficult than complaining about Cuomo.
1
"It’s a common occurrence: A passenger is killed on the tracks pretty much every week. "
I moved to the city in 1958 from D.C. which didn't have a subway then. This was before graffiti, and the cost of a token had been tripled over the previous decade to 15 cents. (BTW, that would buy you three copies of the daily N.Y. Times)
I do remember being impressed by the sign in the station that read, "This system has gone without a fatal accident for ---- years. I can't remember whether it ten or maybe twenty, but it was an impressive number.
There is no compilation on the internet, but using access to the Times archives, searching the words "subway fatal accident" while there were major disasters in the early decades of the century, I didn't locate a single article on a fatality in the system past the one man who fell onto the tracks in 1939.
It's almost unbelievable.
1
I believe that: Global Warming is a fact and the sea will inundate NYC, including its subways. Plan accordingly.
2
The blatant national political ambitions of both De Blasio And Cuomo as the subway and MTA rot under their watch, as neither one is willing to assume accountability for the system, is nothing but disgrace - or Chutzpah as a New Yorker might call it.
1
I ended up, purely by chance, going overseas and riding trains in Europe and Japan before I ever visited New York City. I rode on trains in Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, and in Tokyo (both the subways and the above-ground trains), and in most places, they are marvels. Tokyo, in particular, couldn't function without its subways and trains and riding on them is a joy. They are clean, safe and reliable means of transportation.
Then, I finally made it to New York and one of the first things I had to do after leaving JFK airport was ride the subway. I was appalled. The trains were dirty and the stations were abominably filthy. Someone got their purse snatched right in front of me. You could never reliably tell when a train was going to arrive or depart - I sat on one for 20 minutes waiting for it to leave; I had the lovely experience of stopping in the middle of a track for nearly half an hour on a packed train. My mind reeled - how could this be the most advanced transit system in the world and the pride of New York? Compared to every other mass transit system I have ever been on, it was shameful.
I understand there is a longstanding tradition of New Yorkers having pride in their city. But folks, your subways are awful. Worse than awful, they are abominable. Investing dollars into updating (and cleaning!) the stations and trains would be money well spent, believe me. Travel anywhere else - even to San Francisco - and you'll see what the possibilities are.
1
“Greatest city on earth.”
Seriously?!?
Anyone arriving from another major world capital knows that’s a lie the moment they step off the plane and a) try to navigate finding a direct subway from any of the three major airports, b) rides the LIRR connecting to the subway, or c) winds up in Penn Station.
4
You might as well write a piece on how American infrastructure as a whole is falling apart. We spent the better part of 2 decades blowing up the infrastructure in two third-world countries to the tune of $2 trillion while our nation's own infrastructure decays. I want my tax money propping up bridges, not the military-industrial complex. The NYC Subway is just the canary in the coal mine...
14
1. There never was a New York City subway - the subways were originally built by independent entrepreneurs - that's why we have the IRT, the BMT, and IND subway lines.
2. After the money men found out they couldn't "turn a buck" on their projects, each of the lines was dumped on the city, who tacked them all together into the mess of a "system" we have now.
3. No, it should not be "rebuilt". We need a whole new system - a system that makes sense, and serves the outer boroughs in a useful way. Obviously, many "rights of way" would be salvaged, but it must be an all new system.
4. The new system must operate at 21st century speeds, not at 1904 speeds as the current system does.
5. It is reasonable to have Manhattan as a system hub, but it must also be possible, for example, to travel from North Eastern Queens to South Western Brooklyn without going through Manhattan.
6. There should be no fares charged - that is pointless - nobody rides the subway for fun. The cost of collecting the fares is tremendous, and since the system can't pay for itself, and has to be heavily subsidized, collecting the fares is actually a waste of money. The transit unions have supported the idea of a fare free system for a long time - they are right.
7. If the system had clean and safe rest rooms, the increase in tourism in the city would easily pay for them. Civilized countries have convenient public rest rooms, and tourists like to visit civilized countries.
2
1 of 2
I Mismanagement & Featherbedding
This article is a tale of LONG-TERM NEGLECT, the bane of operations management.
DO NOT EVEN THINK about shoveling $122,000,000,000.00 (122B) into the ground before you figure out who and what is responsible for squandering the funds, missing opportunities, saddling the MTA with crippling debt service, all the while making you pay for & endure unsafe, uncomfortable, degraded and disrupted service for decades.
WHY? The system is set up to engender fraud, waste, abuse, featherbedding, political back-scratching while holding the hub (NYC) of the NE megalopolis hostage. You are going to repeat the same mistakes if you do not know how this happened and who is responsible.
Look at the accomplishments of other systems in the article, the core value is the customer, for the MTA the core value is job protection for employees.
There is no accountability, in a recent article, MTA management said prices are beyond their control. unions and construction companies-voters and contributors-need top dollar contracts, and politicians are intransigent.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/18/nyregion/new-york-subway-system-failu... ,
https://nyti.ms/2pRPmS3
3
I'll say it again: close down the trains from 11pm to 5am every day so that maintenance and cleaning can be done properly. There's a reason why major world systems do this and New Yorkers can -- and must -- adjust.
2
Why express bus costs only slightly less per month than owning a car?
It seems like extortion. New Yorkers have some of the longest commute times in the world. We should study other cities that have better transportation and follow their examples (eg., why not add streetcars?).
I think things got better under Di Blasio, but there is still plenty of room for improvement.
1
The reason we don’t have high speed rail, even where it would certainly pay, like Washington to Boston, is we are much too democratic a country. In the European and Asian countries, the central government simply declare the right of way. In Europe anyhow, the landowners are paid and that’s it, the line gets built straight as possible to facilitate high speeds, they do it all in very short periods of time. In the US, there are several hundred individual jurisdictions between Washington and Boston. Each jurisdiction has armies of NIMBY’s and environmental do-gooders suing and demanding years of high priced environmental studies; then they sue again. This cycle has repeated itself a 1,000 times along the Amtrak route as they have tried to straighten the 19th century line to make Acela viable. No private business or politician will take it on; they won’t live long enough to see it through nor can they raise the billions for the fight. At least in the last 50 years it has never been about money or technology; it is a simple quirk of our form of governance.
1
I don't understand why there's a problem. I keep on hearing about five dollar foot longs at subway. Why is this so expensive?
1
New York Public Transit is flawed in two ways. The first problem is that local investment is not efficient. Its a combination of corruption, nepotism, inefficient bureaucracy and much more. There should be enough money to maintain the current system through fares and local taxes. Im convince the subway can be fixed and maintained by local government.
The second problem is inadequate federal representation. The residents of the greater New York area including Northern New Jersey, Southern New York and Western Connecticut collect around 350Billion Dollars of Federal tax. Due to the way the House and Senate work - this area does not get back the investment it deserves for being one of the most concentrated area's of economic power. I would expect Federal funds to cover all the major infrastructure projects such as shared tunnels, shared stations, airport and port upkeep. Instead we have a city that no-one cares for. London and Paris tax dollars also subsidize rural area's but they still get a lot of national investment for big projects. In London the suburban train network running over the tube(subway) has over 10 stations with over 150 platforms and numerous bridges and tunnels. In New York, we can't even get a tunne across the Hudson for 2 more tracks after trying for 50 years.
The problem is two fold. Our local spend is inefficient. And Washington does not think its important to invest in the New York Metropolitan area.
Refurbishing and updating existing lines and signaling etc. are all well and good, but the trains simply do not move fast enough to make the dream come true: a 20-minute-or-less commute for all New Yorkers. To achieve that, high-speed rail solutions with grand ambitions will be necessary. Why not connect Atlantic Terminal to Manhattan and Jamaica with mag-lev trains that move 200 mph? Why not build a train to LaGuardia? They're spending 4, 5, 6 billion there already but not building a train? Connect JFK with an actual train too, not this AirTrain nonsense. While we're at it, let's not limit this regional integration to just the five boroughs. The MTA is state organization, so let's replace the aging LIRR with bullet trains. Make my cousin's commute from Syosset to Pennsylvania Station 15 minutes. Do the same for Metro North. This would ease some of the burden on the already bursting-at-the-seam five boroughs and allow commuters to move further afield. Grand Central to Poughkeepsie in 40 minutes. It would also increase the density of towns and villages built around these train lines, a laudable goal to tap into smaller scale agglomeration. Integrate the the regional airports with high speed rail as well. Allow 8 airports to serve New York, not the 2 and a half that currently do. This article is a great one, but it does not adequately capture the scope of imagination needed to reverse a new mass exodus of the middle class; to propel New York back to the top of the heap.
3
One easy fix, so much of the article focuses on people jumping onto the track, items on the track that create fires or create delays.
There is a reason the Tube, and the subway system all across Chinese cities have controlled doors, they prevent issues before they are created. A very easy short term solution to improve efficiency today without shutting the system is to build out the same automated doors preventing riders from accessing the track. Immediately would save tens of millions in costs and they can use the savings to add in new technology.
The New York City subways are in need of repair. Many of the issues are simply because of wear and tear. Though $100,000,000,000 (100 billion) is a very large investment, it needs to be done. The signalling system is severely out of date. There are older cars that need to be replaced (some cars are over 50 years old). Many stations are in dire need of repair. Though much work was done on the subways during the 1980s and the 1990s, time has caught up with the New York City subways. Repairs to the subway infrastructure and equipment are needed once again. Also new subway lines must be added.
Here are some examples.
I would have a Trans Bronx subway line that would run from the IND 207 St. station, run along the Fordham Rd., Pelham Parkway corridor to Bay Plaza in Co-Op city. That would not be the only line I would add. I would complete the 2nd Ave. to Hanover Square and to 125 St. and Broadway in Manhattan. I would add lines in Queens. I might even consider a 2ns Brooklyn - Queens crosstown line. I would have a Bronx - Queens line. I would seriously consider a line along Webster Ave. in the Bronx where the Bronx segment of the 3rd Ave. El once ran and connect that to the 2nd Ave. line. I would also have a connection from the SIRT to subway lines in Brooklyn and Manhattan. There are other new lines that I would also consider.
Good ideas. Two problems. Funding and bloated prices as well as NIMBY - the disease of narcissism all too pervasive in our city and country.
1
The premise of this article is that the requirement of physical proximity of individuals for commercial purposes will be static over the lifetime of the use of the enhanced subway system.
We are only on the cusp of internet connectivity, now mostly dyadic but also of groups, becoming efficient and inexpensive, especially when compared to with the physical transportation and assembling of actual individuals. New York grew based on industry that required this group effort. The second largest industry, printing, was done in plants with hundreds of workers,each with unique skills and equipment, that had to be physically coordinated in proximity. Wall Street required real humans to make those trades and put up the last sale price on boards that were viewed by rows of investors. This made mass transportation essential.
This is all gone even now, and the residuals of this group interaction will become a thing of the past, perhaps with occasional recreations for entertainment purposes. Airports have replaced the array of docks needed for ocean liners, if a metaphor is needed.
This article ignored the reality that yesterday's science fiction is tomorrow's reality.
Only if an equitable agreement is reached with the Unions, NYSDOL AND the State Comptroller has oversight of the bidding process as well as the contract/construction regulatory procedures.
You say it would take $100 billion dollars to rebuild the NYC subway system? Out of the question? The GOP just gave the wealthiest among us a permanent new revenue stream of $150 billion dollars each year. Yet we can't even afford 9 months of that kind of expenditure to vastly improve one of the most important economic and job engines in our country? Something's wrong here.
3
New York City has one reason its remaining the financial capital for the time being -- Brexit. New York caught a break there. If you're wondering why London would have overtaken New York in economic importance, its simple -- a better public transportation system. Over the past 20 years, London, with the support of government, has invested billions bringing its urban infrastructure into the 21st century. Meanwhile, here at home we've been starting some wars and spending billions arresting kids with marijuana joints. Christmas only comes once. We better get our priorities straight and start spending our money in the right places.
There is a practical solution to the woes of the subway. Clearly, Subways and mass transit are essential for any metropolitan area -- NY, NJ, Washington Metro area, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, Atlanta, etc -- efficient, all weather, easy to maintain electric powered transit systems are economically essential for the future quality of life of the evolving metropolitan center oriented America. Otherwise congestion will be unbearable, unsafe, and costly in terms of highway fatalities, injuries, and tailpipe emissions from commuters. It is already taking a terrible toll on our health and shortened life expectancy.
Dr. James Powell, the inventor of superconducting Maglev, lives on Long Island and knows the subways and LIRR well and he has thoroughly planned how the subways and light rail transit systems can be adapted to maglev and dramatically reduce the maintenance costs, make the ride quiet and comfortable and very affordable on an efficient, faster commuting system. Powell has described this system in his "Maglev America" and every transport planner in the World should read about converting to Maglev carriers to operate on railbeds that have been adapted to Maglev. America should be the leader in superconducting Maglev and launch the testing and certification of this remarkable system.
As an intercity carrier it can average 300 mph speeds, in all weather, for just a fraction of the cost of steel wheel. See www.magneticglide.com for the concept.
2
I don't believe this issue is isolated to the MTA or any other large transit system. The transit system where I reside has bus, light rail and commuter rail. The bus routes were drastically cut to help pay for light and commuter rail. The debt service is equal in costs to providing the bare bones bus along with the rail service.
Year after year this transit system begs for more tax money to subsidize a system that fails to meet many needs of the population. In recent years the management of the system was discovered to engage in their own little empire of outlandish bonuses for mediocre system performance and engaged in lavish travel in order to study another country's mass transit. And again, ask for more tax money.
No, this isn't unique to the MTA
I have been on the subways of Toronto, SF, London, and of course NYC - which has the dirtiest most disrepaired stations and tunnels. And yet it is so alive - with people and potential. London has been upgradng their system to great effect showing the direct connection between the health of the organism and its arteries...
One of the greatest cities in the world and a third class public transportation system. Can we do better? What does “American Exceptionalism” mean if we can’t take care of the transportation, education, and health care needs of our people?
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God bless the MTA of New York City. God bless the subway and all our trains that conveniently and quickly take us all up and down and in and out of the east coast. God bless us for a hard-core alternative to an entire psychology based in white flight and the gas consuming cars that permeate that way Americans think is essential about life.
All of the new subway wealth is now going to insane government pensions.
For those not aware, NYC has to contribute over $9.6 BILLION this fiscal year to pay the insane pension benefits
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The good people of NYC make many good points here about the difficulty of fixing the subway and the layers of management and politics that sustain/are sustained by it. But while New Yorkers kvetch, people in LA, Seattle, Portland and Denver are investing in their transit systems. Investing in their cities, which become more attractive for the creative energy all cities need. Who needs the Center of the Universe when the Provinces are looking so good?
The MTA needs to move into the modern era of fare integration. It should cost the same fare within the 5 boroughs to travel on the bus, subway, LIRR or Metro North. This setup works well in London and Paris and would provide tremendous benefit here, moving some of the longer-distance subway users over to commuter rail, thereby easing crowds.
I've visited New York once, back in 2014. My family and I stayed in a hotel in Greenpoint, and spent a good week wondering around your fair city, and boroughs. We would not have been able to do it without access to the subway. We got to see the New York everyone sees on the movies, and we also got to see the real New York and meet the real New Yorkers, whether they be from Manhattan or from Long Island. That subway is a testament to some of mankind's greatest minds and tenacity. I'm a transport allocator in the transport industry, and my mind still boggles when I think about complexities and issues a transport system like your subway poses on a daily basis, even more so when I think about the minds that conceived and implemented this system back in the day. It is the lifeblood of your city, and moving forward when talking about funding, cost etc that is how it should always be viewed.
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Yes, yes, yes to all of this. The forethought of the subway founders is almost inconceivable now. alas. and even though I agree 100% that the subway must be rebuilt, there is a second piece of the subway that must also be rebuilt: the MTA itself as an institution. Because the subway is not the same as the MTA. Many readers note rightly that the MTA itself is the problem, not the subway. So let's rebuild the subway. But to do that properly, we must first somehow rebuild the MTA.
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The deferred maintenance on NYC's subways is also evident in the electronic Metrocard vending machines. I was in the 47th St./Rockefeller Center station of the F Line this evening. Of 6 or 7 Metrocard machines, four of them were either out of order or only accepting coins (effectively out of order). The broken machines caused their own kind of delay: long lines of commuters waiting to refill their Metrocards before getting on the train. It is frustrating enough waiting for delayed trains on crowded platforms, or squeezing onto overcrowded subway cars. But when we cannot even pass through the turnstiles until after spending 15 minutes in long lines caused by broken Metrocard vending machines, we know that the dereliction extends beyond the tracks and the train cars.
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There is a product called premium transitchek that employers can utilize for their staff. You get one metro card a year then. It’s automatically funded by a users payroll deduction. The employer pays an administration fee based on the dollar amount of fares purchased by employees. How does this system get expanded so lines to buy fares vanish?
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Don’t be afraid to look to other world cities, particularly London, for inspiration and precedent.
In particular, copy them (and basically every other world city) by implementing pricing zones. Not charging by distance traveled puts money in the pockets of landlords in the far reaches of the boroughs, whose rents are artificially boosted by the basically discounted cost of traveling out there.
That's why I'll keep biking for as long as I can.
I don't have to deal with the congestion, the delays, and having to think about the insanity of the whole system while my train "is being held momentarily" [sic]
And yes commuting by bike can be done in almost the same amount of time as taking the subway itself. And with the right equipment, it can be done in all kinds of weather, except maybe snow and ice (too dangerous for my taste).
You arrive at work all energized, and on your way home you have the time to decompress, leaving petty annoyances and worries behind you as your feet push on the pedals.
I must agree with the author that the NYC subway system is the defining characteristic that distinguishes and sets apart New York from every other American city and almost every other International city. Perhaps only London's Underground rivals, and now with its ongoing improvements, surpasses New York in its ability to rapidly transport millions of people around a sprawling metropolis. I also agree that for New York to survive and thrive as one of the world's most important urban centers, the subway must be completely renovated and updated. The cost for doing so will be extraordinarily high and the cost must be shouldered by New Yorkers themselves. In order to be able to afford to renovate and modernize the entire subway New Yorkers will have to find the fortitude to gain control over the corruption that has rendered construction costs unaffordable. Unfortunately, the Federal Government and Albany will not be willing to shoulder most, if any, of the costs. New Yorkers will need to make this investment themselves. And, unfortunately, the time required for such a complicated endeavor means that those who invest in this necessary and worthy project, will not live to benefit from those investments.
There was brief mention of how London was able to bring its Underground system back from the brink to an (almost) model subway system through extensive modernization, but the key aspect of that turnaround that was not mentioned, but which is alluded to in the article and by dozens of fellow commenters, is that the London Underground first had to tackle the endemic bureaucracy, corruption and excessive union power that was preventing progress and maintaining the status quo. There were many years of bitter battles between unions and government, and a lot of acrimony as private money was brought in, but the result many decades later, as many Londoners will tell you, was undoubtedly worth it.
I rode the subway for some 50 years, from 15 cents for a token to over $2 for a Metrocard (I'm not sure of the fare now). I can say this about the system: This is deja vu. The same issues hit in the 1970's, when trains derailed, caught fire, and were constantly late or breaking down. There appears to be a 40-year cycle on rail transit systems for intensive maintenance of their infrastructure - Washington DC appears to be encountering the same problems now, and that is the age of their system. One key fact to remember about the NY subway - it moves twice the population of Chicago daily, even as decrepit as it might be. Of course it's going to show the strain. Let's see if the Trumpists actually do something about infrastructure.
The oversight of David Gunn's role in reversing the decline and restoration
of the system in the 1990's in this article is unfortunate.
The system could use its limited resources in reducing the amount of money spent on art in the stations and put it into the guts of its operation. The average rider does not spend time contemplating the tile work as if they were at MOMA or the MET, but they do care if they get to their destination on time.
As a reality check: decades ago, the large car manufacturers were trying to stimulate demand for their product. So, they bought municipal trolley systems and closed them, leaving commuters no option but to buy a car to get to work.
Perhaps a ban on individually owned vehicles in NYC should be considered. This would make real estate devoted to parking lots available for people, preferably with an income cap (to counteract the foreigners parking their money in NYC condos, leaving empty housing, and middle income people unable to afford to live in NYC).
Cars will be self-driving soon. This could work.
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The New York City subway system has been neglected for over 50 years, hopelessly clutching to mechanisms from the 1920's & 30's.
The subway system will fail within the next 20 years. There is not enough appetite in America for efficient public transportation and Americans are as distrustful of their government as they are regressive in their insular social ideology.
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Another good thing is that NYC, or at least Manhattan, like Miami Beach, is losing the battle against rising waters. Climate Change and Global Warming are going to make the entire East Coast situation moot just as they have already done on the West Coast.
Manhattan and other boroughs have a larger issue to think about, worry about and take action on other than the present or questionable future of the subway system. All of the subway infrastructure will gradually and ultimately be flooded. The land mass of Manhattan and the other boroughs will shrink. In response the mass of population will withdraw from the East Coast and all of America's coasts and resettle in the interior of the nation. When water enters the equation, either too much of it or lack of it, evolutionary changes take place in the earth's population.
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Why is the Times consistently silent about the concept of building ELEVATED lines instead of subways?
Engineering advances since the Era of the 3rd, 8th, and 9th Avenue Els can produce quiet lines that are cheaper to construct, and could prove popular with sight-seeing tourists.
I'm not an a mass transit expert, urban planner, or real estate developer. I couldn't solve the inequality problem in a million years. I live in a small town. We don't have a subway. But I am have ridden in the NY subway and those in other major cities. I've also ridden over rickety old bridges, roads with pot holes, and other examples of our so-called crumbling infrastructure. I've also ridden over some of the best highways and bridges in our country - toll roads and bridges. Why no mention of this as part of a solution? The article says NY riders don't want to pay for upgrades. What a surprise! But it is THEIR subway. And while I would chip in a few of my own tax dollars to help the cause, the toll concept seems to have proven to be effective and fair.
This article would be more readable for the rest of us if it toned down the New York centrism a bit. If the author was able to look beyond the Hudson, they might notice for example that their own reporting in this very article suggests that massive infrastructure projects looking to the future can be embarked on and paid for in the US. Instead the fact that Los Angeles is doing so is employed merely as a foil, alongside other places that are somewhere between sad (Chicago) and mystical (China) in the author’s imagination.
Why not tax Chase Bank, HSBC, Barclay, and the numerous other multibillion dollar companies that benefit from this magnificent city into contributing some meaningful cash to overhaul the system. After all, they'll be reaping billions from the recent tax cut. Let them pull a few million from their offshore accounts and ask them to step up.
1
The real problem, one that seems pervasive in all levels of government now is rampant patronage with politically connected people being buried at all levels of government. Loyalists from some political campaign given a VP at MTA or Port Authority, or Battery Park City, or Board of Election, or OTB you get the idea, and then fat contracts being awarded to the usual suspects, who also hire and recycle politicos at a good wage that they would never pay you or me. Look what happened with outgoing administrations in Nassau County and Town of Hempstead though prevalent everywhere.
The MTA I'm sure has competent people who can solve many of the issues, but their abilities are just drown in the flood of patronage and political preferences that divert tremendous resources from the core mission.
Solution of those issues is a vexing problem that undermines all of government, and is really what inhibits success.
The problem with fixing the subway is that the city is already too dense, too crowded -- you can't fix the thing, really, without shutting it all down. Like they're doing with the L train.
When subway rehab was done in the 80's and 90's, ridership was down and the city itself had, in certain areas which are now quite robust, emptied out. The subway is falling apart now for the opposite reasons.
So, it's kind of unfortunate. There's definitely a crisis. But the options are. It has to get worse before it gets better, sadly.
As a former New Yorker for many years, I was witness to expensive "improvements" to the subway, including informational videos attached to the ceiling that never worked and weren't needed (we could hear when the train was coming!); modernization of the 79th Street station on Broadway; and other projects. I'm not against modernization - but, switches and power lines (from the 19th century?) were never replaced, and nobody took care of what made the subway run until it broke down. I remember numberous track shutdowns as crews worked to fix a broken switch or other outdated mechanical equipment.
The papers and pols blamed the unions for overblown budgets, but recent NYT articles tell a different story - of politicians who all wanted and took a big slice of the pie.
1
It is time to extend the subway to New Jersey. Rather than spend billions to reconstruct the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, build a new bus terminal in New Jersey, connected to NYC via a subway extension. Then tear down the Port Authority Bus Terminal and sell the land for development. It woud probably bring billions in revenue.
1
Every large city in America, and the world, has an affordable housing crisis.
Why? Because growth is no longer "organic", where demand is filled by those who see the need. Instead, the planners have taken over, as well as a complete failure of leadership.
Looking at these gritty photos showing the decay of the NY subway system, I see the decay is 100% from the top down.
How about creating a non-profit Internal Revenue Code 501(c) (3) New York City Transit Foundation, similar to the NYC Parks Conservancy and local school foundations. Contributions to it can be deducted on your federal tax return and every dollar donated gets a credit on your state tax return. Contributions would be used solely to make NYC transit improvements less 5% for administrative costs. Riders elect on-line the Foundation Board of Trustees who decide how the contributions should be used.
We do have something in all of this mess. We have the subway itself, a priceless asset, worth protecting at all costs. Now it is time for politicians to make sure the subway gets its funding, managers to focus everyone on the fundamentals, and workers to deliver an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. That is going to take a few very hard nosed people at the core to make sure all of this works, and a voting public to provide continual pressure on the chronically irresponsible political class of our state and city. We should all be protesting in the flashy new subway stations to keep their minds on what is really important, getting people reliably from home to work to home in a reasonable, safe, reliable environment.
If the MTA thinks a railroad car should cost $2 million dollars time to replace the head of MTA. A railroad car is a basically a flatbed truck with some seats and much less elaborate electronics than in an iphone. $200K is a more reasonable cost.
Also we should fix the subways. The best place to get the money is to stop paying for the defense we provide our "allies" (the dependents we have been supporting for decades.) Europeans might have to give up cradle to grave healthcare, six weeks vacation and retirement at 60. But not the US taxpayers' responsibility. Israel, Saudi Arabia, Japan and S. Korea can start paying their own weight, too.
Maybe its time to import services, not just manufactured goods. Hire the firm that runs the HK subway to run the NYC subway.
While operational problems are getting worse, back in the 70's and 80's, us subway riders had a much bigger worry. Violent crime, the fear of getting stabbed or shot. I remember putting all of my money in my sock except for $20 dollars. so that when I got mugged I could offer up the $20, so that I wouldn't get shot for "wasting his time". I still appreciate the Guardian Angels for their assistance on my friend and I's behalf one dark cold 80's night. The problems today are annoying but lack the fear I once had.
It is nice that New York wants to spruce up its subway system. And the previous NYT article says that workers will be paid $400/hour to do it. This article says that New York City is crazy productive and rich, partly due to the density enabled by the subway. So let's hope that New York City residents can fund this without asking for state or federal assistance! (i.e., please don't ask a supermarket cashier in Buffalo or an auto mechanic in Indiana to work extra hours to pay for this)
[For comparison, Moscow is currently building 100 miles of new subway routes and 79 stations. The project is funded entirely by the city (i.e., they aren't asking folks who live 3,000+ miles away to kick in). It is ahead of schedule and costing roughly $3 billion per year (see https://www.mrl.ucsb.edu/~yopopov/transit/projects_moscow.html ). The Russians are digging entirely new tunnels and building stations from scratch for this price.]
1
100 billion for a system that will be obsolete as soon as Uber acquires drone technology. I think not! Before we know it we will punch our destination into our phones, and within seconds a little pod gently float into position. We will step onto the pod, and, voila! we will fly Jetsons style to our destination.
"...cities are...great equality enablers..." I don't know about New York as a whole, but big cities as "equality enablers" would come as startling news to inhabitants of Sydney, London and Paris (to take just three major examples). More and more, big cities are where the "haves" live - can afford to live - and the "have nots" are increasingly forced further and further out. Long established - and notorious - in London (and no doubt New York City), this process has now taken hold in Berlin (where I live) and - with even more vehemence - in Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart and Munich. Being able to use the subway or underground to travel to work (say, as a waiter in a fancy Manhattan or London restaurant), is no guarantee of being able to afford to live in Manhattan or (central) London.
Phenonmenal writing by Jonathan Mahler. This just *has* to get a Pulitzer Prize.
For the technology, I can offer a comment to one of the issues of old technology:
“Instead, much of the subway uses a signal system that dates to the 1920s and ’30s.”
My father studied electrical engineering at Pratt Institute in the ‘20’s. They told him that it was a new program and that they didn’t know how valuable it would become. It’s time to upgrade the NYC subway.
For me, the subway is kind of a religion, but... I can feel New Yorkers’ sarcaslm. Might I remind people, the damage from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, Sandy here, and the fires in California, let alone Katrina on the Gulf and Harvey, all require recovery. Those disasters hamper economic development and will be remediated. The NYC subway’s degradation is additionallly due to time, another erosion of the quality of life.
Silicon Valley gets over 70,000 commuters a day, and its workers crawl in their cars to get there. There is no effective subway system, only BART.
We’re a nation that dropped trillions of dollars into Middle East wars, but not into improving our quality of life. The NYC Subway is still functioning; politics in our nation is broken. NYC gets over 60 million visitors a year. It’s a national treasure. It’s time to improve the subway.
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upgrading the subways will disrupt Manahttan so much that it's not worth it. It would have been done already, if it were possible, though it would take a decade or two just to upgrade not even half of Manhattan's subways only.
Our Nation's Political (Washington, D.C.) and Financial (New York, NY) Capitals both have Public Transit Subway systems falling apart from underfunding and neglect. This should not be so, and I am willing to support Federal funds to fix the problem and I live 1,100 miles from New York and 890 miles from Washington.
Questions:
1- Does NYC or NY state tax fuel and is part of that applied to public transit? It should.
2- Does NYC tax parking lots in the city with funding specifically targeted to public transit? This would raise money and create an incentive to reduce car parking.
3- Is there any scenario by which the City government could take control of the Subway system from the state?
Maybe the Mayor needs to take a page from Richard Ravitch's book and escort the NY Developers, Bankers and CEO Class on a tour of the subway stem- warts and all. He might even invite Donald Trump who might have an interest in seeing NYC getting a decent subway system.
Finally, the Massive LA project has been ongoing since Tom Bradley was Mayor and the massive expansion of the system was approved by voters. Would New Yorkers support increased taxes to improve public transit?
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"Would New Yorkers support increased taxes to improve public transit?"
Taxes? They won't even pay full fare to use the system which is subsidized by taxes already.
As the article explains, those tax "subsidies" don't even reflect the full value the subway creates in the city.
BTW, I have heard estimates from insiders that 25-35% of Manhattan Commercial RE (CRE) is kept off the market to make the market dearer; it is not just the subway and density that creates value https://nyti.ms/2vXz0Zl ; https://nyti.ms/2mfnZMh
This is an outstanding article by Mr. Mahler, but I would argue that there are some fundamental assumptions that are rightly challenged.
What are we doing in the 21 c. to take us into the 22 c.?
Updating 19 c. & 20 c. technological solutions are NOT the only options.
PLEASE do a piece on alternatives: intermodal options, construction options, integration with climate change effects (flooding), etc.
8
Here's an easy way to drum up some more cash for the system, RAISE THE REAL ESTATE TAXES ON PROPERTIES CLOSER TO SUBWAY STOPS!!!
increase those by about 10% and that will help with infrastructure costs.
also, get more efficient. too many leaders have come through the turnstile of management at the MTA only to get swallowed up by 'the system'
more people need to work together to get solutions accepted and implemented.
also, the prices quoted seem pretty exorbitant. maybe some outsourcing needs to occur to get a little more efficient??
4
The problem with this article is that the vision and the budget are not grand enough for New York.
Here is my plan: double the capacity and halve the tip time for 75% of the system by building an additional layer below the current layer.
Build rays of subway out to suburbs which can then grow. Tunnel under the East River and Hudson River to reach. Condemn the immediate property along these new rays and develop them with a public corporation (privately operated for public good) that will return 80% of the profits to maintaining and improving the entire subway system. Relate the stops to what's around them so the rides are not so out of touch with the scenery. This could be a dynamic partnership with the rebirth of rail travel, and raising the level of the city for higher sea levels.
Plans are easier to realize when they don't just fix the existing system but also enlarge it to serve more people and to do it efficiently. This appeals both to capitalists and to liberals - there is something for the robber barons and something for the masses.
Just do it.
9
There are flecks of interesting thoughts, but have you ever taken our subway?
Part of what you’re describing exists i.e. trains to suburbs, trains under the Hudson and east river....
you do realize there's a $1 million prize up for grabs right now?
"The subway led the city’s recovery from the fiscal calamity of the 1970s."
Really? What was I riding back in the 70's and 80's when subways were graffiti filled, displaced thousands of passengers when subway car doors wouldn't close, and the E train took more than 75 minutes to travel from Parsons Blvd to the World Trade Center due to track issues.
The problem is that subway maintenance has gotten away from the powers that be and now it will be impossible to catch up. Management should have stayed on top of subway infrastructure 24 X 7/365.
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"Average train speeds are now slower than they were in 1950."
A 1950s government with 1950s technology, rules, and regulations provided a better value ($1.38 in 2017 dollars for a fare) for a much lower price than today's $2.75 per single ride. In the decades since 1950, the politics of NYC have trended strongly in one direction. Perhaps a return to 1950s governing values with 2020 technology might yield better results.
16
Average speed is less because more trains are moving more people.
I transferred at the Chambers St. station a week prior to Christmas and felt I was transported back to the early 80’s. It’s under City Hall for Christ sakes ! I couldn’t understand how the MTA let it deteriorate so badly, whilst running new subways cars.
17
As a New Jersey resident and frequent visitor to New York, I am appalled at the exorbitant cost of infrastructure maintenance and construction. In New Jersey it costs $2 million per mile to build a road. 2.5x the next most expensive state. Here, with 840 miles of track, we are talking about $120 million per mile for subway reconstruction. Wow.
We have to completely rethink and audit the costs that go into construction. Our country cannot afford anything else. With public unions, as opposed to private industry unions, the people on the other side of the negotiating table are not spending their own money and it shows. It is completely the fault of our elected officials that infrastructure cost has accelerated way ahead of the rate of inflation over the past 50 years. I am all for a fair wage, but much of the rulemaking, overtime (3+ times standard pay), supervisor rules, layers of management and oversight make it impossible to constrain costs.
Then at the MTA (just as at the Port Authority, etc), I bet we could fire 15,000 people tomorrow without any noticeable reduction in service.
Time to throw out the system and start over.
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of course the costs are the unions fault and not the corrupt politicians of both parties - the people who actually do the work are at fault -
1
This out the cronyism for contractors and use incentives for fast work and lower costs. California rebuilt after the quakes during the World Series under budget in record time.
MTA is a boondoggle of ineptitude and mismanagement. And citizen involvement doesn't occur until a crisis. Fire the bums and reduce retirement benefits on the rest of the bums that created this mess.
Brent Sonnek-Schmelz: When all the roads in New Jersey are placed two stories underground, with busy metropolitan streets and buildings above, and asphalt pavement is replaced with steel rails, then come back with your cost per mile comparison of New Jersey's roads vs. New York's subways. There is undeniable waste here, just as there is in any construction/rebuilding project, but please, let's compare apples to (Big) apples, not apples to chick peas. And your suggestion that the loss of 15,000 MTA employees would not be noticed is so outlandish that I don't think it warrants further comment.
2
it'll all be under water in 50-100 years...
13
Underlying this is the country's long dominant auto culture even in New York where so many need transit. City planners such as Robert Moses prioritized making the city so much friendlier to cars, even progressive politicians resist annoying motorists by imposing tolls on the city's free bridges or congestion pricing. Its not that they are bad people, it is just become so natural to cater to the motorists. If its that way in New York you can imagine what its like in places like Providence RI!
14
I too am stupefied at how attached so many NYCers are to their cars. They're not that much different than gun owners who yell out 'you'll have to take my gun out of my cold, dead hands!' Car owners in NYC seem equally militant and go bonkers whenever there is talk of adding bike lanes, removing parking spots, etc.
Meanwhile, our current MTA woes aside, NYC has always been a great place to get around WITHOUT owning a car. Between public transportation, taxis, bikes, your own two feet, rental cars, food deliveries, etc., it just makes no sense to me. Folks will often have a litany of excuses...they have kids, elderly parents, a job that's outside of the city etc. But that still doesn't explain why so many simply consider the very ownership of a private vehicle, to be their god-given 'right'. I've never owned a car and manage just fine. It's all what you get used to. But for some, they have an emotional attachment to their cars that will not waver.
Consider the fact that most cars, for 90% or so of each and every day, are sitting somewhere idle, and NOT being used. 90% of the time, of each and every day! How utterly ridiculous and wasteful is that? This is why some progressive cities (i.e., on the West Coast) are promoting car-sharing...where car owners and those who occasionally need a car share the use of the cars during different times of the day. Of course, this then requires folks treating cars like rental cars and not repositories for their personal 'junk'.
1
Yes, money needs to be spent to update the subway system. BUT- we spend too much on MTA workers. Their salaries are non consistent with the job, nor inflation. Privatize and de-unionize. That is the only fix.
20
You don't have a clue. You see a yearly salary and thing they are overpaid. Those same employees are working 80 hours a week 52 weeks a year. Nights weekends and holidays. Nothing is for free especially in the NY area.
yes it the people who actually do the work who are at fault - not the corrupt politicians -
Sure Doc... How about you take a pay cut also?
I live in China. Unreal the subways and train systems they have. Will soon be riding an underground bullet train from Shekou to Hong Kong, a couple of years in the making. Will cut a 45 minute ferry ride down to about 14 minutes.
One other comment, you can check bags in for a flight before boarding a ferry which goes straight to the airport.
25
Most Americans have no idea of how life changing infrastructure investment can be. They spend $$$Trillions on wars with few complaints, but don't want to invest in something that could change their commutes for the better.
2
Thank you thank you thank you. NYTimes for continuing to bring our attention to the issues with the NYC subway and thereby holding the politicians (especially Cuomo) accountable for such a shameful state of affairs. The NYC subway is indeed one of the things that makes this a city accessible and diverse and we need to hold politicians accountable for keeping our system running.
12
Go right ahead, rebuild the subway. Just don't expect the rest of New York State to pay for it. We are already subsidizing it by excessive gas taxes and a tollway that was supposed to go free nearly 30 years ago. No one in Buffalo 400 miles away uses or benefits from mass transit in NYC. Get New Jersey and Connecticut to do so through increased fares.
12
NJ and Connecticut used to help finance this and other NYC services with a commuter tax on non-NYC residents who worked in the city, that no one liked, but grudgingly accepted. That is until some Republicans gave away the NY part for really short term political reasons. Connecticut and NJ promptly filed suit and it is all gone forever. Smart move.
Don't blame the transit unions, the big costs of construction go to politically connected architects and construction firms, and yes some unreasonable and out dated union rules in the construction trades. Those interests are too well represented in the contract process and the interests of the people are not.
So when the city's economy erodes who's picking up the tab for upstate infrastructure? http://www.politifact.com/new-york/statements/2016/oct/14/chris-jacobs/s...
NYC Residents and companies located in NYC greatly subsidize upstate NY. If you are in doubt, please reach out to your local state assembly person. The tax dollars provided by the two NYC groups listed above keeps NY State running!!!!!
Why would a sane society spend so much to build something in a place that will be under water long before it is completed?
8
100 billion? With the featherbedding labor boondoggles of the MTA as reported in this very same newspaper, 100 Billion should get us just about 12 miles of track.
24
Perhaps it is better politics to hit the alarm button on what is still the best subway system in the country, but the realty is they don't make things like they used to--the NY Subway being a prime example. There's a deeper problem at root--one that presupposes that we can spend and politic our way out of problems. There is a general lack of engineering talent and political transparency needed to keep costs at bay (why doesn't urban tech work on this instead of car sharing apps?)
NYTimes seems to think that its politicians job to fix all of our problems. It's all of us. Politics is just a reflection of a media and culture that no longer values the details and a job well done--just look at the NYTimes architecture critic, who blames architects of all people for cost overruns then runs off to a urbanism lobbyist positions to chum with mayors and climate lobbyists. If you think that Bill de Blasio or Andrew Cuomo is going to solve our problems, you probably haven't seen the guy who throws his trash on the subway platform when there's a trashcan next to him or studied how taxpayer money ends up paying for two bridges where only one is needed. And a New York Times that doesn't feel architecture details & engineering & design is worthy of coverage is part of that problem.
10
what? - the politicians are in charge of the subway.
Seems like a case of NYT political myopia. If they fix the 123, you wouldn’t hear a peep. 456 runs well, as do most others
Sure there are a lot of fixes needed, but we don’t live in a culture where the NYT admires architecture and engineering details do they?
2
Wow, way to really hold our governor’s feet to the fire for consistently under-funding the MTA for 8 years. The article makes it seem as if the problems started a year ago — but this has gone on for YEARS. It’s just now that the media reporting on it is all.
So no, this article does not hold our governor accountable for his gross negligence. And did it even think to mention such a past, powerful figure as Robert Moses, who played a huge role in under-funding the MTA for so many years? No.
I agree with those commenters saying federal money will be required. I wholeheartedly agree. Let’s dip into that bottomless financial wellspring that is our giant War Budget. And get Bernie into office in 2020 — I bet he’ll do something about it.
And while the article acknowledges that the super-rich of this city have seen their wealth explode in recent decades, there’s zero mention of the notion that we could — gasp! — perhaps increase their taxes a tiny bit to help pay for it? Just a thought.
Lastly, where is the idea of inviting engineers behind other cities’ incredible subway systems to weigh in on ours?
Sorry if I sound snarky — I’m just tired of The Times and other media beating around the bush on these rather obvious details, however politically unfashionable (raising taxes on the rich, blasting Cuomo, seeking other countries’ expertise, reevaluating our budget priorities) the media may consider them.
22
I would tolerate significant new taxes to rebuild the NYC subway, provided the all the new trains were 100% automated/driver-less, no staffed stations (100% video surveillance 24/7), and construction contracts went to the lowest qualified non-union bidder. That approach would swiftly and competently rebuild the subway system, without turning it into a multi-decade union boondoggle.
12
the unicorn plan - how nice.
1
New York isn't the only city with public transit issues. We need to be investing in mass transit everywhere. Philadelphia's SEPTA system also has plenty of issues. Is it true that the NYC subway is also really bad about elevators and accessibility issues?
3
The priority should be clear: fix the current system before expanding it. The fixes described for the current system approximate $50 billion. The approximate cost for extending lines is $62 Billion. Clearly it makes sense to fix the current system first, and make sure the system has the funds for that ... even $50 Billion is not small change. Still with money diverted from the Triborough Authority, a huge river of tolls on automobiles that has been in-appropriately confined to auto-related infrastructure, the system could be easily funded. Raise those tolls!
4
Approximately 60% of TBTA tolls go to funding the MTA's subways, buses, LIRR and Metro North. In addition, the state has been skimming from the 51¢/gallon gas tax for years. Downstate motorists also pay higher registration fees that are supposed to support mass transit.
Occam's Razor. The simplest solution if usually the best. There are simply too many people in NYC and the larger metro area. Housing is absurdly expensive. The streets are overwhelmed with tourists and commuters. Every system gets strained and abused. Stop building up and figure out ways to reduce the population of the city.
I was in Korea Town a few years ago and walked around the block, during the AM rush hour, before getting a cab to LGA. The people who were off to work looked like they were on a death march. High percentage of them were smoking. People were scowling. I took a cab at 10 AM to LGA and traffic was so absurdly slow I'm convinced I could have walked off the island faster than our cab got us off of Manhattan. It's a fun place to visit but to live there is another story. Like much of America's vital systems, the subway will be left to rot. Like Puerto Rico after the recent hurricane, the smart and talented people have already left for greener pastures and saner lives.
7
You should have conferred with a local before trying to take a taxi from Koreatown (Herald Square) to La Guardia, and then complain about the traffic? Traffic is typically at a standstill in most of midtown, esp during rush hour, and esp. if you are trying to go across town (east to west or vice versa).
Housing is absurdly expensive thus the solution is to reduce the supply of housing? How can you complain about the price of housing and simultaneously advocate for reducing the population.
This isn't even left vs. right economic arguments here. Basic mathematic laws of supply & demand mean if you reduce supply, you increase demand, and prices go up.
You're basically advocating NYC should reduce tourism, reduce the population, reduce the number of companies who hire employees, which is the very source of where the city can generate its tax base, and then all of the problems will be fixed, magically!
NYC has problems but being an in demand city is a good problem. When nobody wants to be in your city anymore, you go the way of Detroit, Baltimore, Memphis, Milwaukee, etc.
Getting people to want to be in your city is a lot harder than trying to solve the problems once they arrive.
People will naturally over time decide that NYC is too crowded to live and will move elsewhere, its the nature of movement. Already you can see a lot of mid-sized cities are ticking up across the country as major metropolitan cities become way to expensive.
1
Are you telling us 7000 inspectors for 650 miles is not enough. Sorry that is 12 per mile one every 500 ft.
7
Great article. I have spent time in many cities and I have come to a similar conclusion to the writer, namely that transit builds cities. The approach in Hong Kong seems to make sense, and I think that NYC should take a similar approach, taking over the funding of subway development and maintenance, based on real estate development and perhaps also property taxes. Clearly there is a lot more that needs to be fixed; particularly excessive construction costs, but the NY metro system is indeed a major asset and should be treated as such.
9
Time to take DeBalaso, Cuomo, Shumer, & Gillibrand to task for not treating all the tax revenue, in our high tax state properly. As NYTimes reported, transit dollars in the past have been redirected. Subways are part of the lifeblood of this city. Working with CURRENT tax revenue, NYC and NY State officials should come up with a plan.
6
If the politicians don't destroy the subways with inaction the astronomical costs of rebuilding it will. How can we rebuild our system when a select few are able to suck billions of dollars of needed cash out of every major project? Money that is desperately needed everywhere else in the system. Will these same people end up destroying the very city that made them rich? Of course they will.
7
If this is any example of the thumbprint of the new Sulzberger, then I'd say he has an excellent thumb.
7
The New York Times recently published another long, important piece showing how the MTA and its unions and contractor partners have rigged their work to drive up costs astronomically. Costs are four times what they are elsewhere and not for the reasons that officials claim. NYC taxpayers cannot continue to foot the bill for such corruption. If NYC residents dont raise their voices, at least good governance groups need to make this a priority. Wasting money means less money for other needs (including within the MTA-- it is an ugly eyesore in the subway! Unhealthy and dis-functional) Business as usual will drive us all underground.
14
European cities also have their transit flaws. Paris has launched a multibillion expansion projet of its metro network : over 150km of driverless deep bore subway tunnels are planned for the next decade. The project is falling behind schedule, costs are rising, and the existing network, also in far better shape than NYC’s, is blatantly obsolete: some key stations and concourses are too narrow, the rolling stock on some lines is over 40 years old. The suburban railway network is in far worse shape: mass investment in high speed intercity service (TGV) has left « conventional » rail crumbling since the 1980s: some lines have catenary infrastructure dating back to the 1930s!
27
High speed and within a city are not compatible, nor desirable either.
3
Yet, the Paris system still runs better, even with its old, rickety and smelly vehicles on some lines. Having ridden both subways extensively, I can rely on Paris to set a schedule via mass transit.
1
The growing distance between poor and rich certainly plays a role here. Not only that rich people are less likely to be reliant upon the subway, but also because the policies of the last decades favored the amassing of more wealth by the already wealthy, taking away money not only from the poor, but people in general - by the means of spending less money for infrastructure maintenance and updates.
To be fair, in the end NYC will master this crisis as it did all crises in the past. However, much of the burden will fall onto those already burdened by their economic situation. Be it because the deteriorating subway will make it harder for them to move around, or the enormous cost of modernization, which at some point will have to be reclaimed by taxes or higher fares. Again, hitting poor people more than rich people, who can easily manage to pay those taxes or higher fares.
NYC, or more exactly the U.S. as a whole, has lost its way. The upcoming decade might decide whether the country can go back to its roots, truly being a land of opportunity and not just a money extraction machine, pressing the last few bucks out of the masses to enrich the privileged few.
17
Great article and great read, bravo to the NY Times and to Mr. Mahler! I do not live in NYC but I feel that housing and real estate are a much bigger problem... No one can afford the city anymore - that is not progress but a downward spiral.... really bad standards of living... then, if you add up bad public transportation and poor infrastructure, you do the math! Is it worth it trying to make it down there? For future generations to decide.
7
The progressive politics of NY city has made it unafordable for the middle and upper middle class. NY has become a city of the wealthy, the high income earners and the subsidized poor.
11
Here in Melbourne, the population is forecast to grow to 8 million by 2050 and we don't currently have the infrastructure to support that growth. The government is spending billions on a new underground tunnel, new stations, high capacity signaling and new high capacity trains.
The government is achieving the investment through public-private partnerships (PPP). The State retains ownership of the asset, but a private third party finances construction - and in return, the State gives the third party the right to operate the asset over a long term period (say, thirty years).
Our government has been using PPPs in the transport sector for over a decade now and it works well. Paying back capital and the third party's profit through operating payments spreads the investment over a long term and the community gets what it needs sooner.
Cuomo could investigate a similar arrangement to either extend the subway into new areas (as indicated in the article, by handing over development rights to get financing from third parties) or explore upgrades of the system by giving any retail rental or advertising revenue in existing stations to third parties.
7
NEW YORK, NEW YORK,
It's a Wonderful Town.
The Bronx is up,
And the Battery's Down.
The people ride,
In a hole in the ground.
UNTIL THEY DON'T The technology of New York's subway system will, of course, be updated while it is being rebuilt. It's an essential part of being able to survive in NYC!
4
A Mars expedition is pegged at 100 billion. Sorry $1000 dollar a day laborers and thousands of consultants need to find work elsewhere. Maybe an outside construction firm with no connections to New York should create the estimate and add 10% in for the usuals. The estimate might be more credible.
8
Why aren't we just hiring the Chinese firms to rebuild? They obviously do construction way better.
As a frequent visitor to London, I have seen how efficiently and splendidly that city has consistently upgraded and expanded its public transport system, from REAL trains to the plane; to new tube lines (and other urban rail lines) that are generally on schedule, efficient, clean, and comfortable. I tend to use the Jubilee Line, completed in 1977 and expanded since then. One can count on a train every two minutes OR LESS!
The problem in my own City of New York is that the combination of the superhuman complexity of undertaking and completing capital projects, along with decades of neglect, has led to the sorry state of the New York City subways. And the buses are no better -- much less frequent than in years past.
The solution lies not only in finding funds; but in a new way to approach huge capital projects. Is it possible? I hope so, but I doubt it.
6
As suggested in the article, the way to fund it is to allow the metro to profit from the development that it generates. In this way, a new line or some revitalised stations could pay for themselves and start to pay for renovation. Hong Kong has a good model for this.
6
Do roads 'pay for themselves'?
Most public transportation doesn't charge enough to help pay the bills. The costs, not just of those who work for these bus, trains, subways, etc. that are unionized, and expensive, the costs to rebuild, fix, good maintenance, security, are expensive, and if people want things, whether the subway or healthcare, they have to decide what the priority is in their lives. Most people prefer their expensive cell phones, and their yearly contracts, their personal appearance, and their social life of going out to eat, drink, and party, above paying for their transportation and healthcare, as they mostly believe that someone else should pay for it, but that is childish, but that is what society has become, childish.
14
You have nailed it on the head. People are not just childish- they are lazy and selfish.
3
I live in a NW Colorado town of 1,200 people and no stop lights. This is all very fascinating...
6
All of the writer's comments are on point. I am sure his $100b estimate for repairing the Subway system makes sense to him. Trouble is, once Cuomo, deBlasio and the rest of the State's politicians get their hands on these projects, the cost will be $800 billion, with $100b actually going underground, and the other $700b going into the pockets of the unions, politicians and companies that soak the City every day. This is the real reason why people who don't use the subway don't want to pay for the subway.
21
When there is a major rezoning (i.e. Greenpoint Williamsburg) that results in higher density, the improvement of the local subway is always an afterthought. Subway upgrades should be mandatory like affordable housing in a rezoning.
7
We have read all week about NY residents paying property taxes. Aren’t those taxes the way a city gets return on property values increasing from public investments. Why doesn’t it work in NYC? I do not understand the comments about land owners getting off free.
3
This article verges on the hysterical. Trains are "terminally late" on "our broken subway"? Surely the infrastructure is under-maintained: this series has done a great job of documenting the income and cost issues. But with trains scheduled every several minutes, how many commuters actually know which are "on schedule" and which are late? The certain, irrefutable truth about the subway is that it works far more reliably for commuting than the streets above. I hope this series of articles produces real change in the system's maintenance and management--but not at the cost of congestion pricing or zone pricing. Why is the Times not concerned about the vast inequity that congestion pricing or other scaled pricing would inflict on the neediest New Yorkers? The less affluent one is, the farther one lives from opportunities for employment. Scaled pricing (by congestion timing or by distance traveled) would change our subway system and our city profoundly for the worse.
13
Before sinking $ 100 Billion into yesterday's technology, a critical assessment of the changing transportation technology in the age of AI is needed.
Over the next two decades, transportation technology in dense cities will change to on demand, electrical powered autonomous, self-driven, cars, vans and buses.
These changes are already visible in Europe. Paris already has 1,100 stations and 4,000 shared, app rent-lable electric vehicles
3
It's true that alternative methods of transport will supplement the existing public transit, but they will not replace the subway. You cannot move the same volumes of people with any other mode of transport. The investment in the subway is required.
9
I doubt you will see self driving trains and busses. Even when the world is run by robots the Carmen's Union will convince them to keep a few humans alive to drive the busses and trains. They are a very persuasive group.
Not even close to the same volume of people with the shiny new tech toys you mentioned. All on-demand means is more demand, and more traffic. Cars represent cities' past; rail and smart land use planning are the present and future.
This editorial is an empty plea. New York and New York City cannot afford such a huge outlay without federal help. And a famous New York resident now occupying the Oval Office, along with a Congress led by men from Kentucky and Wisconsin will not under any circumstances persuade their colleagues to set aside even a drop of money for such a purpose.
So, nothing is going to happen on the subway front unless or until Congress comes under the control of Democrats, and the occupant of the Oval Office is tossed out on his keister in 2020.
20
Investment is necessary, but it should be on the back of real estate development. As pointed out in the article, Hong Kong provides a good example that could be followed (although not one that should be followed slavishly).
3
100% wrong. Democrats will only guarantee that unions will line their pockets and we will spend 10x the amount we should. The dems and repubs are equally moronic and equivocally incompetent to get anything done. That is why only the private sector can fix this. DE-UNIONIZE!!! and PRIVATIZE!!!
8
The cost of maintaining and operating the urban transit systems should be born by primarily by its users. Why should anyone who never uses the NYC system be expected to pay for the years of neglect. The residents of other states and towns pay for their roads and highways through their taxes and tolls. Let NYC pay for this through their taxes and fares; The state and city created this mess; let them solve it.
2
Just wanted to mention the excellent photography which complemented the article.
13
The Times around 1908 or 1910 ran a special section on how the city changed so dramatically in a decade, so much of that change having to do with the subway. A marvel.
4
It would really be good if, for once, one US city, would get on par with other first world cities. Not holding my breath....
10
Give me $100+ billion and I'd rebuild a subway much better than what the current folks would deliver.
First thing, I would do is end the unions and the corruption.
8
The employees need to be part of the process. It is too easy to simply bash the unions, even though some change is clearly necessary.
2
Sure--let the workers work for a minimum wage that won't enable them to live in the city, while they and their families choke on the fumes of their internal combustion powered cars as they commute in. It would be better to extend the subway into Long Island, New Jersey, Westchester and Rockland..
2
It is not the workers that are holding back NYCTA. They want the railroad improved and working on time. The problem is the sheer neglect of the railroad that has gone on for decades. It has to stay current on all levels of development and equipment. Many of the switches and signals are operating on equipment that dates back to the from the 1930's through the 1950's. Very little investment has taken place. Just maintenance. Hurricane Sandy was massive set back and spotlighted how vulnerable our system is. The workers are doing the best they can with equipment that cannot keep up with the increased service. Pushing the limits of the power system that was not designed for the 8 million people that ride it daily has shorted out and blown power over and over again. We need funds to rebuild a railroad that is current with the technogly, better tracks and signals that can handle more trains. I have to give respect to the workers who continue to piece meal this aging system together everyday. It is by sheer force that they keep this aging system moving. They work under conditions that are unsafe and breath air for 8 to 10 hrs that is not very clean. Everything from steel dust, rodent droppings and hazardous chemicals, it is not a job for the weak.
7
You’re right
As an occasional visitor to NYC, who grew up in the city, it continues to shock me how one of the greatest transportation systems in the world could have fallen in to such disrepair. Why do New Yorker, who generally aren't shy about their feelings allow such a public disgrace to happen??
5
I too have always been mystified when on the trains, and there is either no announcements, inaudible announcements, announcements that come way too late in the ride/problem, breakdowns, delays, etc. ...and indeed, virtually no one looks angry. No one is grumbling, no one is walking down the platform to the conductor window to demand answers. Everyone is just sitting there. I suspect the problem is that....when it comes to the poor folk and/or immigrant riders, they seem to be of this mindset that 'such is life'...as if they don't have a 'right' to complain. Then you have the often young, white hipster ridership....the NYC transplants, who will only complain about something when it's politically correct to do so...you know...complaining about Trump or trans-gender rights or sexual harassment, etc. For such a person to complain about the subways however, it was almost as if it would be seen as 'not cool'...like the person would be told they 'need to take a chill pill'. Thankfully, it seems it is finally becoming socially accepted in NYC, if not downright 'cool' and trending, to now complain about the MTA.
The lack of access to the subway by way of elevators or ramps most visibly affects the physically disabled, but stairs are a poor design choice for many more: families with small children, parents / carers with strollers, travelers with cumbersome luggage, the temporarily impaired, older people. Even when elevators are available, they are often malfunctioning or filled with various excrement. I'd encourage any redesign of / investment in the system to take these factors into account and build access that offers a universally better experience and truly equal access.
7
I think New York City should supplement it's subway system with above ground electric trains. I am amazed that cars and trucks are allowed so easily into the city. It is time to modernize. Electric light rail, and people movers.
7
I enjoyed this article. Cause it paints the picture of our subway woes in red pain, which is exactly what we need: thoughtful and passionate new public works projects to move New York from being a giant relic infiltrated by tourists and newcomers to the point of crumbling, to a functioning city with a reliable (and why not clean and tech-savy ) transportation system.
However, I still think the cities biggest shame is NY Penn Station !
5
Why does is cost 7 times more to build in NYC that it does in Paris or London. That is the article that New York Times needs to write. Why is the NYT glossing right over that alarming fact and move straight to "fix the Sudbay, not matter the cost".
21
I think they already wrote that article - https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/nyregion/new-york-subway-construction...
6
The Global Warming article short URL link above doesn't work. Use http://www.businessinsider.com/before-and-after-photos-of-us-cities-in-t... if you are interested.
No matter the cost... a matter of survival....
a perfect set-up for extortion...
whose side is the author on anyway?? I detest doomsday nonsense esp when It comes to $$ -- you can always print more...Inflation is supposed to be good.....
4
I grew up using the subways. It’s how you go to work, go out, get around and go home. The subways make NY’s neighborhoods a city and the city livable.
Without the subway we might as well be living anywhere else.
Surely we have the will and inspiration to keep the city great. This is the wealthiest, most diverse place in the country. If this can’t be done, it’s time to move “somewhere warm”
8
A major part of the problem can be seen by looking in the mirror. How many New Yorkers of voting age and status, actually vote? Is it 40% or 50% in special cases? Slowly, but surely, Americans have disengaged from Civic Life and have left the running of the government to a tiny minority of extremists whose stated goal is to demolish the Government entirely. Or, they can't be bothered to keep an eye on the ones they have put into power in the first place.
The second issue is this "out of sight, out of mind" feeling that seems to have overcome us. Ask a person living in Buffalo, if they want to pay for the NYC subway and the answer is probably "no". That is a problem. It's why having the subway under the command of the Governor of New York is a losing prop osition, when half of his constituents don't want him spending any of "their" money on it.
At the end of the day, the Subway should be the property of New Yorkers and funded by them, without the help of the Federal Government. As you said, there's more than enough money in NYC to cover the costs.
11
My answer to those in Buffalo or all the other auto dependent cities in the country: fine, don't pay - We won't pay for your endless highways and bridges and tunnels and the asthma that auto pollution creates or the 50 year old people who have forgotten how to walk and have circulation problems because they drive 2 blocks to a 7-11 and use medicare which we all pay for ---
sounds ugly, doesn't it ?
6
How do you think the beans and cups get to your Starbucks? They aren't handmade by an artist in Bushwick.
I never ride the J or use the Chambers Street platform depicted in these photos, but they are just simply heartbreaking. Can anyone argue that New York City and its citizens as well as visitors/guests deserve better?
5
Given the prior NYT article on the tremendous waste of money involving the subway - paying elevator operators for automatic elevators, 200 plus workers getting paid in excess of $1,000 per DAY who were not authorized to be working, plus a number of other incredible wastes - I might be more supportive if there was any effort to control costs. But no, instead the author, like the unions and contractors who are growing fat off this, say cost is not important. Cost is important. Asking other people to pay for an inability to manage expenses is outrageous. The riders should be demanding the cost control NOW - then lets talk about repairs.
12
Agreed. The wasteful spending and Cuomo’s appalling lack of interest in controlling costs is a major reason why we got to such a desperate state. The subway needs greater investment but it also needs a much higher degree of accountability on where that money goes.
3
Being a resident of Toronto, I'm surprised that this excellent article doesn't make any mention of Mr. Andy Byford. This gentleman has worked wonders for the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) http://ttc.ca/ . - and he has now progressed in his career to become the head of New York transit.
I'm sure that Mr. Byford's personal and management style will greatly benefit New York City (which I love second to my home Toronto).
However, one of his attributes is that he is a realist. So New Yorkers will need to accept that there will almost certainly be some temporary service sacrifices such as closures at night and/or weekends.
But, as we in Toronto have learned, the result is well worthwhile. Thank you, Andy, and may you enjoy the challenge and prosper.
9
Thanks! Welcome Andy. Yes--we must sacrifice 24 hr service -- a state of emergency requires deep sacrifices. Give the poor souls leaving and arriving during the wee hours likely to be affected more buses AND VANS (Mexican colectivos anyone?)--we don't always need those humongous and slow buses that are hard to maneuver on outer borough queens streets like I live on.
The only government entity that has the financial wherewithal to build, maintain and repair the New York City subway system is the Federal Government. The $110 billion estimate of the RPA is more than the City's annual budget and a substantial portion of the annual New York State budget. On the other hand, the $110 billion is about 2% of the annual federal budget which, particularly if payable over time, is more than manageable for the Federal Government.
The obvious problem is a political one in that many people throughout the country do not want to spend their tax dollars on something for which they receive no perceived benefit. But the Federal Government has historically paid about 90% costs of the highway system, which does not proportionately benefit New York City residents. For New York City residents and many commuters, the subway system is the functional equivalent of the highway system in most parts of the nation. Therefore, the Federal Government should fund the New York City subway in largely the same way that it funds highway construction, maintenance and repairs.
5
I agree, but too bad most federal legislatosr are deep in the pocket of the highway, auto, and oil industry --- non of who care about mass transit
2
The problem with infrastructure in this country which really applies to cities, etc. not just the federal highway system, is the borrowing that went on off the federal gas tax for years, using it for other items in the federal government rather than saving it or using it for bridges, etc. before they became death traps like what happened in Minnesota. Cities, like New York, should of been putting millions away for the last 40 years, so they would not be in this situation. The truth is that money really doesn't grow on trees but both politicians, and the people they represent believe otherwise because of all the borrowing that has gone on the last 60 years, rather than taxing for everything, and the chicken is coming home to roost when it relates to running out of money, like Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security to pay all of the promised entitlements. The way cities, counties, and states across this country managed pensions was a crime. You can't promise more than you can afford, and tax for. The only difference between Democrats and Republicans is their differences in what they want to borrow for without taxing for all of it. Being almost 70, and having a father who was a bookkeeper and office manager, I learned from him to live within my means, and borrow little money. That is the opposite way that most people live, including what happened with many people who took out home equity loans, then mortgages for houses they couldn't afford on top of that!
7
Yes, NYC needs its subway. Suburban voters do not need to pay for it however.
I've ridden it maybe once or twice in 5 years.
Its the MTA that needs to be re-imagined. A corrupt, inefficient organization that exists to siphon money from taxpayers.
You need to privatize the operation, much like the utility it is. With stockholders and the need to efficiently use capital, things would quickly change.
Money should come from riders, local real estate taxes, and commuter fees of some kind, like London's congestion charge. Keep the state out of it. I should only pay when I visit, not taxed just because I live at the end of a train line somewhere that I never use.
4
ok, we'll stop paying for your endless highways -
6
The Government is running the subways, so how to respond to those who say the issue is more Government money? Is this NYC culture, to be so brazen with the public trust? Certainly corruption exists in other cities, but our costs are much, much higher. So, what is it?
4
Those pictures are shocking. I would readily believe they were some antiquated third world horror.
Having read the NYT recent in-depth coverage of the subway woes, I don't believe the problems are solvable. They are too intractable, and too contrary to the governing ethos of the city, state and nation. This country is now run for, and by, oligarchs and billionaires who don't inhabit our spaces or care for our problems.
Americans have evolved into a non-cooperative species, the logical endgame of decades of programming by commercial interests. They are a collection of individuals, obsessed with individual rights and posessions over the common good. They vote into power the corrupt or those willing to be corrupted. Everywhere I look, or read, the touchstone issues of this era are being neglected or exacerbated by the unholy nexus of bad governance and private greed. These entities and their linkages are growing stronger.
Change will only happen when ordinary Americans take to the streets en masse. No other way. And if events of this past year and decade haven't prompted them to act, or understand that their interests have been betrayed and their wealth plundered by bad actors across the political spectrum, then I don't expect a tipping point anytime soon.
187
They are solvable, just put me in total control. It will take some time and be somewhat painful, but it is very possible.
3
Fantastic comment. Assessment is appropriate for most of North America. Belief in the common good is largely dead. Maybe 30% of people believe in sacrificing for the common good anymore. Maybe. I cannot envision the scales tipping back. The roots of self-interest above all else are more than a generation deep. Once it was publicly acceptable to pursue self-interests at the expense of the interests of one's immediate family, common good was a lost concept.
1
This is so very sadly accurate description of the terminal illness of the USA.
2
The massive number of riders every day are NYC non-wealthy working people getting to and from and the DEPEND on the subway.
The wealthy newyorkers do not care about the subway at all. You have to live in NYC for while to figure that out.
And that is why so little is done to bring the subways to safe, clean, modern operational status.
20
Maybe it is because I don't actually live in NYC so I don't use the subway to commute, but I have not noticed any drop off in service over the years and I go to NYC to visit my parents at least every other year for decades. After reading all of the NY TIMES articles talking about the subway falling apart I called my Dad before flying out this last November and asked if I should make alternate arrangements for getting around to some of our planned destination during our trip. He told me, "No". And he was right. We used the subway and our own two feet to get around just like we always have in the past with zero issues except for the expected crowding on the trains.
2
Okay well I'm glad you had no issues while here. That's rare. Try commuting here on a regular basis and you'll experience the fun soon enough.
2
I started riding the subway as a young boy in the early 1960s when the token was still 10 cents. I remember the Myrtle Avenue El being torn down. It was the biggest and greatest subway system in the world. Now, it seems closer to the Third-world. Unfortunately, I don't see any mention in the proposed Federal Infrastructure Plan for rail.
2
Mr Hull: Your memory is faulty. In the early
1960s, tokens,(as were bus fares), cost 15 cents. In those days, also, until a lawsuit, MABSTOA and other city buses refused to accept tokens. And 15 cents was a LOT of money, then!
Just as the original construction of the els and the subways created the immense and incredibly valuable NY City , reconstruction of these lines as well as replacing old Elevatred systems with either light rail or funicular elevated systems running on NY City's wide and long avenues would inject many trillions more dollars into our and our areas economy then the trains themselves might cost
1
And in the 1960s, the busses have change. Remember the day tinkle of the change pan on the driver’s side?
I was only 7 or 8 at the time, so my memory isn't as good as it used to be. The infrastructure is already in place. Why clog the streets when the tunnels are already in place? The question I ask is if they could complete the trans-continental railway in six years, why has it taken so long to complete the new tunnel to Grand Central, or how long it will take to run the third set of tracks on the LIRR? No wonder it will cost so much.
Those photos are further proof that New Yorkers consistently settle for less. Come to Berlin and see how good public transportation can be.
5
yeah, how's that new Berlin airport working for you?
2
Funny question coming from someone dependent on LaGuardia. Back home, we still use Tegel, and hope the new airport never opens.
As one who is from Queens and visit NYC often I have seen the real estate values in the boroughs and elsewhere near mass transit increase creating a lot of wealth. I am not sure what the property tax statement looks like but I live in a Minnesota that has very limited rail transit but I pay an assessment for nothing. It is small and is seed money for the future but it seem obvious to me that you real estate values reflect the proximity to a MTA option you should pay for that option, The system needs funding and it seems the beneficiaries of the property values should pay their fair share of the funding regardless if they use it or not.
4
I've been riding the subway for as long as I can remember. In fact, when I was a child I would repeatedly ride entire subway lines just for the fun of it. In this day and age, it is intrinsic that the subway system as a whole is up to date and cleaned up. I've seen stations where signal boards are literally marked up with a sharpie for what train they apply to. In my opinion after riding it for years, the 1,2, and 3 line is the most reliable and on time line. If all lines could act somewhat like this we would already have a much more functional system. As for updating train cars I think it is something that our attention should be on, but should not be the MTA's main focus. I've longed for the days that the 1 train would have updated cars since 2005; my wish has never been granted. The train cars for most lines date back to late 80s early 90s. I think our main focus should be on how an organization that makes so much money can be so highly indebted. It truly shows how dysfunctional organizations are today. Per weekday there are about 5.7 million riders, and let's just say average fare is $2.75, they should be making close to 13 million dollars a weekday in sales. For lack of a better phrase, the MTA should be rolling in dough. I, and many New Yorkers I assume are very curious about this matter.
4
It's not actually much money. By your own calculation the MTA takes in less than 5bn a year, not nearly enough for the task.
1
Indeed: The revenues Zane identifies would not cover the payroll of NYCTA (which is the bus and subway operations of the MTA), and THAT doesn't include OT, pensions or health benefits (http://web.mta.info/mta/budget/pdf/MTA%202017%20Adopted%20Budget%20Febru..., page 12 of 340). Admittedly, there are a LOT of bus drivers and mechanics, but it's clear: The numbers do not support his contention.
This may sound naive, but given the importance of the NYC Subway system (and the buses as another recent NYTimes article pointed out), I think there should be a tax levied. It will be a complicated tax but put simply, NYC residents will have a certain assessment depending on whether they are renters or owners, building owners another, businesses renting premises another, commuters who work in the City and other visitors another. The taxes assessed should be progressively graded based on a number of factors such as the value of the building or apartment owned, rent paid by the dweller or business, type of visitor (eg. airport arrivals at one rate, daily commuters another, other visitors (ie. bridge and tunnel) another). Given the literally millions of people who will pay the tax, I don't think it will be very high. To those who might argue they don't use the subway, can they also say their service people and work subordinates, etc. do not? Let's do this before things get much worse.
4
another tax? seriously?
1
And what about the case for streetcars? Other cities have been able to address modern transporation needs with above ground light rail -- like London, where neighborhoods are linked to existing underground lines.
3
Yea, yea the Subway is the Subway - best ride for $2.75! The subway needs an upgrade --- what else is new! New York has been "upgrading since 1664" - so get over it! What we NEED do is make more Affordable Housing in Manhattan so more REAL NEW YORKERS CAN LIVE CLOSER TO WHERE THEY WORK! It's a joke how everyone CRIES about the Subway, but NO ONE SCREAMS about all these Apartment Towers at 35/40% Residential Capacity! The take the space and price 99% of New Yorkers out of the Rental Market! Yes we need a Subway Upgrades, but making it more affordable to live closer to work would a better answer!
3
I see the need for renewing the subway system in NYC, but I also wonder what the impact of Global Warming (read .bi/2sfC3XD) will be on any system (old or new) 50 years from now.
It seems like we need at least 100 Billion for fixing today's subway system and Billions or even Trillions to protect the city from rising sea levels or otherwise water will flood any transit system and make it unusable.
The challenges are much more significant than we think and the lack of leadership to fight Global Warming will be very costly down the road (and likely unaffordable).
5
I lived in NYC for many years and the subway is certainly critical to NY and should be saved. However, to ignore the insane compensation paid to MTA employees and the construction crews doing subway works is irresponsible. The waste in the system is huge and until union wages and other version of patronage in the system are addressed people are turned off the idea of giving more money. Mentioning these issue are like the 3rd rail in NYC. See the article in NY TImes from a few months ago that mentioned the average compensation for the 2,500 people in the MTA administration is around $270,000. That is offensive.
12
As numerous comments here suggest, the implications of a $1.7 trillion gross metropolitan product need to be clarified. How much in federal taxes are enabled by this? How much in state taxes? What fraction of the entire US budget or NY state budget is supported by this production? And how much of these taxes are actually returned to the city? This article suggests that NYC and the subways are net payers but facts -- even in 2018 -- would be helpful.
4
Very interesting article. Two comments:
1 - To all the drivers in the NYC metro area, imagine the traffic on the roads without the subway and commuter railroads. Drivers should be willing to pay higher fees to fund needed investment and encourage more people to use the system.
2 - How can it possibly cost $14 billion to renovate 30 stations?
The subway is the lifeblood of NY, we must ensure that it functions for decades to come.
4
I lived in NYC in the late 20th century and know the subway system well. I am strongly of the view that the single-occupancy vehicle (the automobile) and surface roadway system are destined for the historical junkheap, regardless of the projected type of engine powering anticipated future automobiles. In a future era of more expensive electrical energy, there will also be a scarcity of resources needed to construct single-occupancy automobiles for even the present level of population. Also to be considered is the massive and wasteful cost of maintaining the road system we have already. The advantages of mass transit systems - lower fuel costs per passenger, much lower materials cost, much lower cost for railbeds as compared to roadbeds, and resulting salutary high-density population settlement in cities with a smaller land area footprint - these advantages all argue for rebuilding new cities around mass transit, and jettisoning the single-occupancy vehicle and road system completely. That being said, given that Manhattan (especially the southern end) and other significant parts of New York City are destined to go underwater due to rising sea levels due to global warming, it would be foolish to spend significant additional resources on rebuilding the NYC subway system. Much of NYC itself will need to be abandoned, and a new city will need to be rebuilt in a new location at higher elevation, with a new transportation infrastructure which is completely mass transit.
5
R, most predictions will have NYC flooded in a couple of generations so if you are waiting for that to happen soon, you might not see it happen in your lifetime. Not sure that is much of an action point for 2017's subway issues.
As pointed out to me by a friend last night: the subway declined for years, till the 80s, then went up up up and was back in action.
Then the city and state let it all fall apart again. So here we are. Again.
1
Now tow that trump and the Republicans have given all of those wealthy New Yorkers and big corporations a big tax cuts maybe New York City can reclaim some of it.
Sadly, New York City cannot count on anything positive (except cuts in funding on HIV and STDs) from the Trump Administration and Republicans. Trump refuses to fund the replacement rail tunnels, and won't fund subway renovation/rebuilding. The irony is that Trump Tower stands right in the middle of Manhattan, and its own viability as a retail space and housing will be strangled if mass transit fails.
A PR puff piece. A $100 billion? Surely you jest. A self appointed Regional Plan Association (RPA) ready to waste other people's money. Who funds the RPA? The real plan should be to fix the high priority items needed to get the subways running on time. Cosmetics and line extensions should be put on a hold until the main objective is achieved. Costs must be curtailed and closely monitored. When NYC couldn't fix Central Park's Wollman Rink it outsourced it to the Trump organization, who fixed it. Similarly real bids need to go out, laden with incentives for doing the projects on time and within budget, and penalties for either delaying the project or exceeding the budget.
5
This project should be at the heart of any sensible infratsructure repair project undertaken at the national level.
But it won't be. And we all understand why.
2
While the big fixes are being planned and budgeted for, can't they send someone out with a pressure washer to simply hose down the platforms? Eliminating the grime and stink would be such an improvement.
5
Can anything ever be written about NYC without hype like NYC is the greatest city on earth. It isn't.
6
I have to disagree, although this may be because other contenders are no great shakes in themselves. No other city in the world enables as much creativity and productivity and facilitates social fluidity as brilliantly as New York. Other contenders compete in one, maybe two of these fields. None are on the short list of all three except Gotham.
(And I live at the extreme opposite end of the state, and have never lived or worked there.)
Ok, look. The hardest part to build -- the tunnels -- are already there.
Three simple solutions for the short term:
1) Enclose the tracks at underground (non-"el") stations. This is common practice now throughout the world. There is unbreakable glass that separates the platform from the tracks and there are automatic doors that line up and open in synch with the train doors. No more litter/track fires. Safer for passengers. Easier to move trains in and out. Stations are quieter.
2) Replace the antiquated electromechanical signal system with electronic signaling. Install transponders on every train and track exact movements. This will allow for much closer train spacing and more frequent service.
3) Most trainsets should be articulated with no doors between cars. (See Hong Kong MTR.) This will significantly increase capacity of each train and make for smoother passenger flow.
Then, after this practical items, one more long term step should be taken:
Eliminate all fares on the subway and finance operations through the savings of no longer running a fare system and a small real estate tax. (After all, the high value of NY real estate owes its wealth to the the subway.) Every piece of property located within a half-mile of a subway station should pay .0002 of its value annually. A million dollar condo would be on the hook for two hundred bucks a year, the owner of a hundred million dollar building would pay $20k per year, and so on.
4
Would everyone get real! Your subway is going to continue to tank. In another section of this newspaper, you missed a recent article about a major tax cut for the rich. That means there will be no money for the kinds of spending the US did when building JFK airport, etc. In the 60s, the golden era, the top tax rate was 91%. In the 80s it was 70%. The .1% now rule and the suckers who do not have limousines have to find their own way to get around. This theft has been going on for decades while you all have been dozing.
2
Perhaps it would be better to just contract it out to the Germans or the Japanese.
1
RE: It built the city of New York. Now, no matter the cost — at least $100 billion — the city must rebuild it to survive.
No matter the cost. Another bleeding heart liberal expert at spending other people's money. How about an article about why a train car should cost $2 million? $200,000 is more on the mark.
4
While you credit Dick Ravitch, you fail to mention David Gunn, who was Ravitch’s #2 man, and the guy who really turned around the subway system.
He was President of the NYCTA from 1984-1990 and lived at Ansiona Court in park Slope when I did. The MTA offices were on Madison & 44th so we occasionally rode the F train together from the Slope to mid-town. David was a real train guy and a hands on executive. Many nights he would hop off at Jay St/Boro Hall (subway command center) if there were issues on the subway.
David was dual CN/US nationality and was a train guy for his entire career; a subway guy since 1974. Before NYCTA he had run Boston and then Philly train systems, after he left NYC he went on to run DC metro, then Toronto then Amtrak. He finally retired to Cape Breton after getting fired from Amtrak because he refused to go along with GOP plans to split tong distance rail as a step to privitize Amtrak.
2
I was so surprised to see no mention of the need to get construction costs under control before tackling all this work. Did the author even read the recent piece about the unreal amounts of money being spent building the second avenue line?
51
There is a mention- "In fact, the M.T.A. has often proved all too capable of spending money, with construction costs well beyond what other cities spend on similar projects." I imagine he did read the article, but it would be redundant to go over it all again. This piece has a different focus.
1
I'm pretty sure that's because the NYT just covered that issue extensively about 6 days ago: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/nyregion/new-york-subway-construction...
2
Yes, but the piece says we have to spend at least $100 billion to fix the subway, implying that he thinks we should just accept the outrageous costs that are being quoted. It certainly would be easier to raise the appropriate sum to cover these costs--whatever that is--rather than the corrupt, extortionate prices NY has been paying to get work done.
The subway needs to start a war with the United States, there's plenty of money in that and really the US has been asking for it. Maybe attack NJ or something, that'll get their attention. Then sit back and watch the money come in. We'll have that $100 billion in no time. What did we spend in aid to Iraq and Afghanistan $2 trillion? Pakistan, $2 billion a year, Egypt $2 billion, Israel $4 billion and what did we get for it? NYC will actually get a pretty neat subway out of it.
28
All we need to do is suspend all regulations and get the Chinese to do the construction. That will drop the cost by more than half. Not sure we really want to do that however. The fact is any construction is never less expensive than now, no matter what the cost, for nYC the job is absolutely essential to the future of the city. The issue is how to pay for it when US government is not paying for most of what it spends. We need to wait for the crash of the US dollar, not far off.
1
Peter - you are spot on with your assessment. It's been 104 days since Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rican and roughly half of the island's total 3.4-million population still had no power. If our government hasn't help those innocent folks, the New York City subway system will never see a dime of federal monies. Why is there always more than enough money to go around for other countries but barely pennies for those in our own back yard?
Such a sad and dangerous paradigm shift in priorities over the years.
3
100 billion can fix New York's subway? Rubbish. I have rode Toronto Subway, LA Metro, London Underground, Paris Metro, Tokyo Subway, Osaka Subway, Singapore MRT, Hong Kong MTR, and Taipei Metro. $100 billion probably wouldn't get NYC Subway to Toronto, LA and Paris' level let alone state-of-art system in Asia.
4
That's not at all what the author said, go back and re-read it. That's the minimum $$ to implement some upgrades.
1
Until a few years ago there was a minimal tax on out-of-city residents who worked in the city. It was a couple of dollars per paycheck, as I recall, and I don't think anyone minded because we all used the services of police, fire, transit, etc. Then some boneheaded politicians decided to eliminate it to curry favor with some suburban voters (and lost anyway). That raised a few hundred million a year that could be dedicated to the transit system if it were re-instituted.
18
Land lords pay plenty of taxes on office space. Commuters don't send their kids to school. How about stop wasting money. $2 million dollars for a $200,000 train car?
$200K doesn't even buy a bus, DC: https://www.thoughtco.com/bus-cost-to-purchase-and-operate-2798845
Subway cars, which weigh tons more, and must run longer and more reliably (because they can't be bought in small quantities and so must be dramatically more durable), yeah, I get it. I don't LIKE it, but I get it.
I hear that Cuomo wants to extend the #1 to Red Hook in Brooklyn, all the way on the other side of the East River.
Think he'll name it after his daddy?
3
Land value – you wait til the end of the article to identify the solution! You say … it was the arrival of the subway that transformed a seedy neighborhood called Longacre Square into Times Square, that made Coney Island an amusement park for the masses. Other cities had subways, but none threaded through nearly as many neighborhoods as New York’s, enabling it to move large numbers of workers between Manhattan and the middle-class boroughs — a cycle that repeated itself every day, generating ever more wealth and drawing in ever more people … then … from 1993 to 2013, the average price for a co-op or condo in TriBeCa rose from $182 per square foot to $1,569. In the process, prime real estate in Manhattan was transformed from a place where people lived and built businesses into a high-yield investment in which absentee owners parked their money and watched it grow. But you still don’t get it. Land value is where the money is and when MTA/NYC captures it, you have the answer to how to save the subway. I know speculators run the City and don’t want to share their unearned wealth. Have you ever thought about interviewing experts in land value capture, if not in NYC (Henry George School of Social Science) but in Hong Kong or Singapore? Should we assume the NYTimes is a comic book, giving us fantasy because the real world is so hard to take?
7
Great read. Thanks for not hammering the union workers who toil underground at odd hours for a living wage, whole those who commute by helicopter get a tax break...
11
To quote this article 'The city can be built, and the people can come, and they can thrive-millions of them, then millions more.' Sad, but true, as can ants.
Capitalism at it's best! Grow, grow. and then grow more...as the earth dies. New York is not the center of the world, as the very distrubing pictures of the subways show. Slow down people, before it is too late. Why bother to even fix the NY system, as it will be underwater soon?
2
Though I see where you're coming from, it has been shown that dense urban development has a much smaller carbon footprint than does suburban sprawl.
Sprawl requires more cars and more driving, since about the only chore most suburbanites can actually walk to accomplish is the trip to the mailbox (assuming they don't drive to a PO box). The heating of houses is much less efficient that of apartment buildings, and obviously dense cities require less land and therefore less destruction of natural biomes.
Bottom line: smart cities are a solution to climate change. Suburbs are not.
1
Population growth in an existing urban footprint is infinitely easier on the earth than Houston-style sprawl.
1
These are local problems that the region failed to address or pay for for decades.....Not a lot sympathy in Alaska for a problem of your own making!!!!
4
Regionalism is an incomplete explanation: For every $1 Alaska sent to the feds in 2014 taxes got Alaska $1.39 in return in services. NY got ~79 cents on the dollar. Are you willing to forfeit your federal subsidy? If anything NY failed as a region to get its fair share back from Federally subsidized states.
1
Mark, are you really that clueless? You and I have been wallowing in the federal trough for decades. Look at the last transportation bill, the 2015 FAST act. Of the $305 billion to be spent over five years, $2.6 billion was allocated to Alaska. That works out to be $3,500 per Alaska resident. That's a bit more than the average U.S. citizen's share of the funds, $950.
The Republicans who have been ruling Alaska long term have made an art form out of complaining about federal overreach while keeping both hands outstretched. And now, after they frittered away sixty years betting the house on a commodity-based economy, we're in bad shape even with the fed's generous help. But, being CONservatives, they refuse to even consider a state income tax. Because not enough "fat" (poor people, teachers' salaries, etc.) has been trimmed from the budget. Vile creatures.
Alaska. Not a shining example of financial prudence any way you look at it.
1
The MTA is a black hole when it comes to $$. The Times own research has reveal the corruption of this agency.. which finds it better to redecorate stations than to clean them - more money to go around and cost overruns are fun too.
The corruption in the MTA guarantees waste. A totally functional airport a La now be reconfigured as a mall -- impossible to move thru with speed and ease.(Unnecessary spending for the benefit of whom.. Names and connections to political figures please. )
Which politician/assembly person is in charge of the MTA spending? Danny O-Donnell told me pre-election that he was to head that committee.. but he chose Art. A gazillion years ago when "tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree" was a hit song, a WOMAN on the MTA board asked for suggestions -- to which I suggested that they color code for closed entrances with pink ribbon and if you recall pink tape was used for several years. Now the men on the board seem to not care what the public thinks So easy to pick a number out of the air A few low cost suggestion -- paint the tunnels white so that any intruder sensing equipment can "see" more easily. Stop paving with expensive granite tile, Automate all lines. Elevators everywhere. Oversight of all projects: descriptions of what to be done and cost published online and for comments. (Why expensive stone?? refacing of the No.1 line exterior on B-way 120-135 - while staircases rust out at 242nd and 238th?? CHOICE.
4
Mahler is always interesting.
To save the SUBWAY involves warming. Rising water.
Involved national security. Vulnerability. A blow out under the East River will flood Manhattan tunnel system, a wipe out of infrastructure.
Involves rising seas world wide.. see warming, #1
The Case is bigger than the subway.
It’s the ballgame.
2
Terrific article. And once again we see how American ideology about taxes and redistribution of wealth are a total wreck. Taxes are the price we pay to live in a functional, civilized society. If my blue state dollars are funding opioid programs in Kentucky there is no reason why some of that same federal cash shouldn't be paying to upgrade the NYC subway. Then again, it wouldn't break my heart to go about the business of my day without all those fluffy pink tourists clogging up the F train. Maybe we can charge tourists higher fees for their metro cards?
8
Only if we let the Chinese build it, they have the most extensive experience from their building boom, and can build cheaply and efficiently. I dont want the tax payers paying 400 bucks over time as in another NYT article for a semi skill worker.
5
Good to know you can afford to live on your McDonland's (or wherever you work) pay. The rest of us expect to earn a good living working in biggest city in the richest country on earth.
If there's no choice between McD's wages and $400/hr OT, I think we can agree: The subway is doomed.
400 bucks per hour over time, I don’t think even my engineering professors can earn that, MTA is a corrupt regime where they vote for the elected officials which would give them raise.
Unfortunately, for the most part, those who make the financial decisions about the subway, do not ride the subway. If NYC is a microcosm (although much more disparate than the interests who just rammed the tax break bill through) as long as those with the wealth can model the costs and provide for the number of people required to service their interests, there will never be an efficient solution to improving public transportation. Those making the decisions disdain those of us who use the subway. For them, transporting workers is a necessity, but one they see as affecting their bottom line - the less spent the better. Why is it that the typical scapegoat thrown back at us is UNIONS? Because they are the workers who have placed themselves btw straphangers and those holding the pursestrings. As long as wrecks are kept to a minimum, and workers can get to work, the masters and unions are happy. Us, not so much. Millennials who are able are abandoning the subway for Via and Lyft as a transition away from socialized transportation in favor of the "sharing" or "gig" economies. Do you even know a millennial in a union? Have you noticed how many black cars with license plates beginning with "T" you see on the streets? Black Toyotas and Escalades. "Movin On Up"
4
There are two problems with this piece. First, no one seriously doubts that this city would not, could not, exist without its subway. Second, just a week ago, in this very newspaper, the NY Times did a tremendous job of exposing the insanity of the entire contract process by which things "get done" in the MTA universe, including paying hundreds of workers to do, apparently, nothing at all, and paying others at the rate of $400 an hour in overtime pay, massive feather-bedding, collusion in the bidding process, etc. We make Paris look like a bargain when it comes to building in a heavily built up city. All of which this particular article chooses to discuss in but a single sentence at the end: "In fact, the M.T.A. has often proved all too capable of spending money, with construction costs well beyond what other cities spend on similar projects."
Sorry, not good enough. As the Times itself has shown, the MTA is a rat-hole, a bottomless pit for public monies that it would be insane to continue funding even at current levels until the entire corrupt system is ripped out and replaced by something more rational, such as may, apparently, be found in heavily pro-union Paris. Absent that, taxpayers here and elsewhere would have to be crazy to continue to support this system with their hard earned dollars.
111
I visit Seattle, just for starters, Airport to center of downtown by light rail. < 5 $. The conclusion reaches to vast areas of how the city does business. Too many entitled groups for your own good. Not to speak of the death grip of landlords.
1
I wouldn’t use the Seattle light rail project as an example of a well designed system. Notice how you had to schleppe a third of a mile, past the parking decks to get from one end of a long terminal to the train platform? Why? Someone important had an investment in the monopolized taxi system to SEA. Taking the train to to the terminal would have hurt the taxi franchise.
Secondly, NYS might be bad at investment, but Washington State is far worse. Everyone wants improvements, but no one wants to pay for them. It took a bridge being thirty years beyond end of life for it to be replaced (520 Bridge). The majority of the bridges in WA State have been deemed obsolete.
Similar problem to NY. Seattle/Puget Sound produces the vast majority of economic wealth for the state, but the population east of the Cascades (predominantly republicans, lots of trump signs), which lives off the largesse of the wealth generated by the democratic west of the Cascades, blocks investment.
Thirdly, the light rail does nothing for the most congested routes: Seattle to Redmond, Redmond/Seattle to Everett. Those were ignored.
I’m a NYer, living here for 15 years, and John K. Galbraith’s Culture of Contentment is in full force in the PNW.
3
One only needs to turn to California to find new ways to finance new urban projects like this... there's a new meaning for "watch it go up in smoke".
2
I would pay to watch Trump in a "clear up spot" watching the Industrial Revolution thundering by, six inches from his "frozen (corpulent) body."
Consider the overwhelming stupidity of passing massive tax cuts that defeat funding for his fantasy of renewing "infrastructure."
A greater fantasia is the notion that this bilious idiot would even consider allocating a dime to Deep Blue New York.
2
No matter the cost?
Every shady contractor, padding-happy union and sleazy politician in the state just perked their ears up.
The Times just ran an article last week on what a colossal hot mess subway projects are - seven times more expensive per mile than London or Paris or anywhere else in the world, and for no reason other than legalized corruption.
Just last week. And now we're back to throwing money at problems. Nice attention span, editors.
This is how you get more Trump.
Come to think of it, it's how we got Trump in the first place, back in the 80's.
7
How to fix the subway. Make sure that Gov Cuomo and Mayor DeBlasio and every single state senator ride the F train EVERY Single day. I guarantee that it will be fixed
3
Nothing about Andrew Byford, former CEO of the Toronto TTC taking over?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Byford
I once saw a subway conductor open their train window and throw the remains of their lunch onto the subway platform. I suspect Mr. Byford will end up the same way.
AG - kudos for taking this on
Not just a matter of more safety/reliability - or capacity/comfort
Need to "dig" deeply - not into the who or how of just how bad - but into the why
Actually, can be done as fast as your photogs can click their shutters - and your journalists their keyboards
Imagine a parallel article - but focused on rebuilding the NYT, rather than the NYC subway
Think of the parallel pics
1st, do ANY of your presses in your printing plants look like they've been carried over from the fifties
2nd, do the presses - or any of the facilities - look like they haven't been maintained, since the fifties
3rd, you print more than a half-million papers a day - and more than a million on Sunday...Would you let your facilities deteriorate to the point where the paper's a couple of hours late getting out there, at least once a week...Or where folks would have to go six months without a sports section
Turns out, you've already written such an article
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/insider/new-york-times-printing-plant...
AG - not like you haven't had competition, financial challenges, or union work forces
The difference may come down to a single word...
Pride:
> Pride of Craft
> Pride of Workplace
> Pride of Civic Role
Leave out the capital construction part of the MTA [which has pride to spare - but sucks all of the financial oxygen out of the room]
...
Bloomberg'd say it was analytics
I say - he's very [justifiably] proud of those analytics
3
Timely article, a wake-up call for politicians who are visionaries looking for a place in history, not funding for the next election campaign. I applaud the economical, moral, and social cases the author makes. But I also want to add the national-strategic and technological cases. Anyone who has witnessed gleaming new subway systems in Shanghai, a network of expressways, a network of high-speed trains across China, all built within the last 10 years, would worry how far the US has been left behind in mass-transportation technologies. This country has lost its will to build marvelous cities. Planned infrastructural bill, if it happens at all, is more likely to go into highway systems than mass transits. I would love to see another feature article exploring the strategic implications of the widening gap in mass transportation between the US and China.
12
Manhattan had a network of elevated rapid transit lines that worked well and were easier to repair and cheaper to build than subways. They were torn down and replaced by nothing. Chicago retained the elevated system and even added surface lines along expressways. Subways are extremely expensive to build, difficult to repair and awkward to access. But they don't get in the way of politicians and the rich in their cars the way that surface systems do.
7
the Els were noisy and we needed that steel for WW2. underground subways are much better for the neighborhood. less noise, safer.
1
There are still elevated lines, especially in Brooklyn. It's dark and depressing underneath them. If they were all kept, nearly every Manhattan street would be in permanent darkness. In any event, they are gone. Subways are a brilliant use of unused underground space. Unfortunately, the willpower to create and care for subways died a hundred years ago.
2
Cities from London to Salt Lake City are addressing modern public transit needs with streetcars --- which can be built faster and more cheaply than underground lines.
1
I agree with the premise. I lived in NYC for several years. The subway is completely essential and needs help desperately. That said, I have to wonder why the English can build the new Elizabeth line with 10 new stations, 41 stops, and 60 miles at approximately $15 billion, on time and in budget... but NYC's Second Ave. line cost $4.5 billion, adding just 3 new stations, and having 4 stops over two miles. So, apparently a subway in London costs $250 mm per mile and NYC costs $2.25 billion per mile. Why is it almost ten times more expensive to build subway lines in New York City?
31
The recent NYT expose of vast waste and corruption by the MTA & labor unions is your answer. www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/nyregion/new-york-subway-construction-costs.html Let's see if DeBlasio has the courage to do anything about it...
4
Late in the article you say that current conditions of not fixed will cause us to retreat - to stay close to home.
I live UES, near one of the new Second Av subway stations. Last winter, shortly after the opening of the extension, I met a neighbor in the elevator carrying six Macy’s bags. She said that she probably hadn’t been to Macy’s in 10 years. Makes sense given how annoying and time consuming that trip used to be. Ditto getting to Penn Station. Most east/west travels actually.
I would say to a large extent we’re already staying close to home.
3
Thank you, Mr Mahler, for this eloquent and passionate appeal to save the NYC subway system. I completely agree that revitalizing this technical marvel (circa early 1900's) would reflect well on New York and the USA as a whole. Unfortunately, you offered only a kissing glance at the archaic political labyrinth of union rules that drive the costs of any effort through the roof.
Remember when Reagan fired all of the Air Traffic Controllers? Do the same here and start again from the ground up. Maybe I should submit this idea to Cuomo and go for the million dollar prize?
2
There is no such thing as "union rules." There are only collective bargaining agreements negotiated by subway worker unions and management. And these unions have no legal right to strike. There are work rules in those agreements that can be changed in the next round of contracts, but the idea that subway workers should be fired because management agreed to those rules is just silly.
1
The subway is a necessity, not a political platform. I sincerely hope all the woes that Cuomo has inflicted on the subway due to his and de Blasio's childish bickering comes back to haunt both of them if they ever seek a higher office. Their attitude and blaming each other is sickening. The shameless fingerpointing from the politicians needs to end. If New York State does not want to fix the subway because it only benefits New York City, then New York State needs to get its hands out of who is appointed to the MTA.
The MTA needs fiscal responsibility. There never seems a desire to stretch the money as far as it can go. Instead, we have the seemingly ending salvo of raising taxes and fares instead of wisely spending the money in the first place. Wise spending would be an increase in preventative maintenance dollars instead of funding vanity projects that add little value to the system as a whole. Fix the core before you expand it. And when major projects are needed, the MTA needs increased oversight.
Finally, the MTA needs to stop looking at big dollar solutions to fix simple problems -- trash on the tracks can be fixed with more trash cans that are frequently emptied instead of thinking about ‘platform doors’. Think MTA, think - you cannot adequately maintain the elevators and escalators that you currently have in the system and you plan on adding a major maintenance item that could be totally avoided by frequently emptying trash cans?
5
The subway is a microcosm (admittedly a big microcosm) of New York State's larger problem of a declining value proposition: Other places do it better and for less. New York's progressives can tolerate high taxes, assessments, fees and assessments, but at some point, it becomes fair to ask, how come so much? When you toss around figures like $100 billion to spend on maintaining the lofty intangibles so eloquently described in this excellent piece, it seems an elaborate means of avoiding the question of whether it's money responsibly spent. Quaint, I know. New York State is already the high-taxed state in the union, but our infrastructure is among the worst. Why can all these other places, equally or more progressive-minded, provide better services for less? What is it about our vast administrative infrastructure that consumes so much revenue, but produces less than our peers? Clearly the subway (and our highways, bridges, power projects and everything else we take for granted) needs fixing, but please, funneling $100 billion or more into the maw of the existing administrative state, without big reforms, seems reckless.
8
As northern New Jersey will soon find out, it's either mass transit or economic death. There will be no wages to tax, or to keep, if mass transit is not fixed.
1
Compare NYC with the Paris subway: Plexiglass barriers help prevent suicidal folks from jumping on the tracks (I always feel unsafe standing on the NYC platforms - am I the only one?). The plexiglass barriers open when trains arrive. Stations have elevators. Why was none of this implemented during the recent station renovations?
3
A few observations.
We need to get control of the wasteful spending patterns outlined by the NYTimes last week. If construction continues to cost three to four times as much here as in Paris or London we won't get much benefit for the money we spend and taxpayers will be even more unwilling to fund continued waste. The cozy relationship between the MTA and a few contractors and unions must end.
Subway riders need to contribute more through increased fares. The London subway is more expensive even for a short trip and much more expensive for a long trip (its fares are based on a zone system). Raising NY subway fares to London levels would greatly increase revenue.
Don't run the subway 24 hours each day. No other major subway system does that. Close it from 12:30 to 5:30 every night to eliminate the costs of running the whole system for a very small number of riders and to permit cleaning and maintenance without the constant need to dodge trains.
8
Thanks for this great series. Everybody should read it, especially anybody who wants to run for political office in this city or this state.
1
Neglecting basic maintenance of subway cars and tracks, no reserve or budgetary plan for cars, signal and station upgrades of items with predictable, finite lifespans (is anyone surprised when a 30 year old roof or 10 year old water heater in a house needs replacing) demonstrates the overall incompetence of the MTA. Demonstrated in the cost and time overruns for the new second ave subway.
Skip the soaring rhetoric by presidential candidate Cuomo and others, pointless statistics about the wealthy, costs of condos, dreams of real estate development along new lines and fix what exists. It is not sexy:
Replace the obviously ineffective MTA management structure. Raise the fare for funding, then begin a five year plan to replace cars, install modern signals, replace tracks, forget about making beautiful stations accessible to the disabled with too high a cost for a small number of commuters. Just a simple plan to make it all just work again.
4
1. Get rid of, or drastically reign in the transit workers union.
2. Get squeaky clean investigators and prosecutors to look into blatant union corruption and bribes.
3. Drastically lower union salaries, benefits and pay to "normal" levels such as other workers earn in NYC or transit workers in Paris or London (which have just as high living costs as NYC).
4. Tax NEW YORKERS for a subway that only they use or enjoy.
5. Increase fares until they support the subway system, along with taxes.
6. Close at night, at least from 1AM to 4AM, so repairs can be done.
7. Adopt common sense safety actions like plexiglas doors and barriers, so nobody can fall on to the tracks.
Problem solved. You are welcome.
I'm and old lady who moved to NY to be close to my grandchildren. The subway is and always be a miracle to me. In this strange city, I always felt safe (people even helped me carry my bags) and always knew where I was. Not a bad deal, old lady wise.
Now I have a terrific idea: Find a way for New York residents to contribute to a fund of some sort to improve the system while deducting, dollar for dollar, whatever they contribute from (their now non-deductable) income taxes. Maybe we could buy shares in the system. They'l figure it out. New Yorkers are the best in the business.
There are a million ways to get around Trump's venomous tax heist against Blue States. This is one.
2
I understand that voluntary contributions to state government are deductible under even the new tax laws as "charitable contributions."
http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/03/pf/taxes/salt-deduction-high-tax-states/...
To understand the necessity of a rapid transportation system in a big city needs some education. Since most politicians are only clever, but not educated, there are problems kind of pre-programmed with an institution like the MTA.
Of course, it's necessary to keep the system up to the newest standard. This is expensive, and that's the point where the non-understanding of politicians sets in.
New York City dweller, fight for the MTA to be kept up to the technical standards! Because the MTA is necessary to make such a big city livable.
2
Step 1. The $100 billion cost should be reduced to 1/7th of the cost by reducing capital costs. It costs seven times as much to build in NYC as it costs in Paris, France. Paris has high real estate costs and unionized workers. There is no excuse for NYC corruption and inefficiency to cause the costs to be seven times those of other high cost locations.
Step 2. NYC should pay for the costs. No federal cash should be squandered on local corrupt officials and their cronies.
Step 3. Operating costs should be covered by fares, instead of the current system of fares covering 50% of operating costs. Either raise fares or cut out the inefficiency and corruption that inflates the costs.
2
1. Give the responsibility and budget for the Subways back to the Mayor.
2. Stop sending $'s to Albany.
3. Replace entire line signal systems with NEW equipment. Trying to repair old 1940's junk is absurd. Wireless train control works!
4. End absurd 'safety' rules that triple the number of people for any job.
5. Put heads of MTA in stocks in GCT for public egging.
3
As long as politicians are not held truly accountable, then the allocation of more money to the MTA will be hopeless.
1
Isn’t it inspiring to see the Iranian people take to the streets to fight back against the Kleptocracy they are living under. Maybe we can learn from them.
Nothing will change with our transportation systems in the greater New York area unless the corrupt and wasteful organizations that run them are dismantled. Any new money we invest in the system will just be wasted.
Nothing should be off the table in terms of options for fixing this. Perhaps the MTA should be disbanded and replaced by a private contractor. The bidding for said contractor should be opened up to foreign firms, including the Chinese. The same for any new capital projects.
I’m sure there are major political hurdles to block such a solution. But if our elected leaders don’t have the will to impose this or some other solution to remove this entrenched corruption, they need to be elected out of office. All of them.
Definitely decertify and disband this corrupt public union. Then get started on the teacher unions.
All of those jobs can be done cheaper -- BETTER -- and more fairly by private employees.
Considering that NYC generates almost 1/10th of the U.S. GDP, isn't it in the Federal government's best interest to make sure that the subway is working properly? Where is the federal funding for all of this?
2
The funding is being used to underwrite Republican welfare states. Remember, taking Texas out of the equation, almost all Republican states are net takers of funds from the federal government. This is the most underwritten problem in America. States, mainly Republican, that mooch off the economically productive states, which happen to be mainly democratic. If you really want to talk about welfare abuses, this is the story.
Let’s move to a system where each state’s balance of payments to/from the federal treasury is held to neutral, putting aside the DoD. If a state needs more, it can borrow the funds it needs from the states that have funds to lend. And it can then repay those loans. This would bring reality home to folks rather quickly.
1
Here's cold comfort : our MBTA system here in Boston is barely better -- perhaps a "C-" to a "D" with NY's MTA.
Housing units ( most mid-high end) in the immediate Boston area is ever increasing WITHOUT any serious talk, let alone effort, as to efficient mass transit enhancement/development.
By 2025 there will be gridlock at most major intersections from 6-10 am and 3-7 pm Monday to Friday.
As much as I'm a proponent of all the positives of the subway system, does it make sense investing $100 billion into a technology that dates back centuries? Can we imagine a New York City with an extensive subsidized network of self-driving electric cars and buses and an end to private car ownership within city limits? Parking lots and garages to be used for parks and subsidized housing and the ability for all New Yorkers to have access to good public transportation, not just those who can afford to live next to a subway stop? I agree there needs to be a quick fix in the interim, but in 20, 30, 40 years, will we be leaving future generations stuck with a system that leaves us falling behind other mega-metropolises? Worth thinking about.
2
You may be on to something. Repurpose the subway tunnels for self driving non polluting vehicles would clear up space above ground for green corridors, pedestrians, bikeways and parks. We dreamers.
With millions of people riding the subway, NYC is already paralysed by congestion on the surface. There is no way that a single vehicle surface technology can ever carry all those people - self driving and electric or otherwise. The subway will be with us for generations to come and the faster it is restored the better.
2
John, the subway carries 6 million people a day. Self driving cars aren't going to come anywhere near replacing that. Self driving trains, absolutely. Self driving buses, yea that will help. At the end of the day, you need a mass transit system.
By the way, those mega-metropolises that you're citing, they're all building subways at a breakneck pace. China, Japan, Europe, etc... even Los Angeles. We're the ones falling behind by not investing in mass transit.
4
If New York will rebuild its subways, don’t rebuild the same torture boxes. Look at the subways of France. Almost no noise. Proper ventilation. Frequent arrivals so there is little overcrowding. Live classical music in the stations.
22
what this means to non-nyers: don't go to ny, THEY'LL find a way for u to pay for it
Our governor just announced he wants to build a subway tunnel (the Mario Cuomo tunnel?) to serve Red Hook in Brooklyn. Shall we accommodate the Mayor's plan as well and have a street car go there? The article seems to say that the entire City of New York needs transportation but our two otherwise feuding executives seem to agree on the paramountcy of Red Hook.
1
What needs to be done is a top down renovation.
We will have to shut the lines down, one by one. Make a surface bus line that runs on the original subway line by removing traffic from the street and dedicating it to buses. That way, each line can be upgraded with modern switches, the workers can work safely and the line can be brought up to code. Do this for every line and in 10-20 years, all of the lines will be modernized.
One of the best things about the NYC trains is that they run 24/7, but it is also a big problem because maintenance can't be done properly.
4
Don’t move the city. Move all retirement fund assets that are owed to all city, state and federal employees into social security. You would be able to fund subways among other things.
No need to fix the subway system says those who ride in chauffeured Escalades and buzz around from their rooftops in private helicopters.
10
NYT's recent expose' showing graft, fraud, and plain greed by everyone involved make me wonder if it can be done.
AND, the economic position and interests of people then are very different now.
This MAY NO LONGER BE POSSIBLE.
4
"In fact, the M.T.A. has often proved all too capable of spending money, with construction costs well beyond what other cities spend on similar projects. It’s fair to blame the whole New York political establishment — Cuomo, de Blasio and their counterparts stretching back decades — for presiding over the subway’s decline. "
As the NYT article last week showed, avoiding the colossal waste connected with the big constructions projects like the 2nd Ave Subway would have easily paid for the necessary maintenance. So the question -- ignored in this article -- is why the colossal waste? Answer: irresponsible pols, layers and layers of well-paid bureaucrats and, especially, consultants, and politically-connected unions. Until these Augean stables are cleared out, no amount of dedicated new tax revenue will be sufficient; once they are, very little new tax revenue will be necessary.
87
Has anyone revisited elevated trains ? I'm thinking sweeping suspension bridge like structures. Also how about articulated buses or small articulated panel trucks instead of trolleys?
As has been cited before, it's somewhat unfair to compare the NYC subway to those in other major cities for one big reason: it operates 24/7.
This fact makes it many multitudes more difficult to perform both regular maintenance and major overhauls. Yes, the inter-connectedness of subway lines makes it a little easier to work around a given section of the system, but that only goes so far.
Not to make excuses, but just highlighting a reason.
5
I just returned from a trip to Tokyo. The subways there are much cleaner, the trains run more frequently and on time. There are many relatively new lines around the city and the whole system seemed to me to be a lot bigger than the NYC system. I think anyone thinking of improving the NYC subway system should visit Tokyo and see what might be done differently.
4
Tokyo is one of the most expensive cities on earth.
But they do not pay their transit workers even a fraction of what greedy corrupt NYC public unions earn. Nor do they permit the union to bribe one political party. Nor do they allow work rules that demand 25 workers do the work of 10 people, because "it's in the contract" (cha-CHING!).
Nobody in Tokyo transit is making $110 an hour normal pay, or $400 an hour weekend pay.
And the Tokyo subway does not run 24/7. All other subways shut down during the wee hours of the morning, because few riders ride the subway then. So that is when repairs are scheduled! DUH!
Without reigning in the transit union, there is no hope. You cannot build or repair anything when your union is gouging you for 10 times the going salary rate.
1
I do not doubt the horrendous problems with the NYC subway though weekdays my travel from Downtown Manhattan to 23rd Street and back have been uneventful. However, the Interborough buses are a disaster. It can take 2-1/2 hours to commute from lower Manhattan to the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx and the problem is management, not infrastructure. The MTA has an incredibly mediocre supervision and higher performance record for the BxM9 bus which (a) has no 7:30 a.m. bus at peak time for the rush hour, and (b) has an 8:00 a.m. bus that is always late sometimes arriving with the 8:30 a.m. scheduled bus, or (c) leaves commuters stranded as on January 2nd in sub-zero temperatures with NO 7:00 a.m. or 8:00 a.m. showing up AT ALL. This is outrageously poor performance for any organization but for public transportation it needs heads to roll.
9
In fact there should be peak time service by 6:30 AM if not before...
Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain (rain, rain, plane) had a very good subway system and the automatic entranceways -- trains, signage and AC.. elevators at exists... etc. Berlin had ennuciators at bus stops... telling when the next bus by number was to arrive...
Also soap seems to exist in some countries where sidewalks are scrubbed clean in the AM after the homeless get up and leave for the day.. The Times Square area of NYC above and below ground is disgusting.. And the piggishness cannot be blamed on Trump but people with bad ethics and low standards. Why can't the retailors make sure the sidewalk in front of their store is clean and that gum wads are gone.. (YUP you might have to scrape gum off -- ditto in the subways - one could have a clean up your station day for ever station in the system -- on different days... Put JDs and the John Doe people and neighborhood volunteers to work doing something really productive and that they can be proud of.. like a clean house... Not everyone thinks cleaning a floor is beneath them..
1
$100 billion seems fairly reasonable.
Based on an article elsewhere on this site, that's equivalent to the price of 25 million urine tests.
Not a bad deal.
5
Or 10 or so state of the art fighter jets.
That can't fly.
$10 billion ($100 billion divided by 10) jets? Even the B-2 priced out at a mere 2 billion each. I think you may have dropped a zero or two.
If one wants to be a politician in NYC then it must be mandatory that they use public transportation and NEVER get a car and driver on the public dime.
20
Lets get "New York City Water Tunnel No. 3" (that was started in 1970) completed before we start spending $100b on the Subway.
3
"Before the subway, it was by no means a foregone conclusion that New York would become the greatest city on earth" The greatest city on earth? Wow. Have you ever been to another city? NYC infrastructure is worse than most cities I've seen, not only the subway. Apartments are too hot or too cold (both in winter and summer!), high-speed internet is not available in large parts of Manhattan. As soon as it rains, the streets are flooded. As a European, most infrastructure I've seen in NYC is worse than anywhere else I lived. US hubris is nauseating.
29
Thank you, I couldn't agree more. I've lived in Manhattan for over a decade, but I've also lived in other cities (in Europe and the US), and NYC is just plain decrepit. Granted, it's an older city and one with unique population density issues (not to mention a lot of people who are "house rich" and "cash poor" ... so they don't take adequate care of their property), so it's hard to draw exact comparisons. But after about 5 years here, I realized... hey, that thing about how NYC is so gritty and cool is just a way for people to rationalize living in the midst of filth and crumbling buildings and infrastructure. It's not cool, it's depressing, particularly given what you pay in rent and/or how much an outdated walk-up closet of an apartment will cost you. We're looking to get out as soon as possible at this point.
1
Sweeping and therefore inaccurate generalizations help no one, including the hilarious assumption NYT staff have not traveled outside the US. The great Euro cities are paid for by their national governments, not so here. There are far more things that make a city great than gleaming infrastructure, reasons young people all over the world would give their right arm to live in NYC, truly global diversity, energy, the dialogue, inspiration and cross-pollination from the unmatched breadth AND depth of talent in all CREATIVE fields, reaching a critical mass far more than the sum of its parts.
3
@DugEG: My God, have you ever drunk the Kool-Aid. New York peaked in the late 1940s, with Elia Kazan directing Marlon Brando on Broadway, and Arthur Miller writing plays. Now 'the dialogue" is just among hedge fund investors.
1
New York City's failing infrastructure is a national disgrace. The airports and the subway systems are third world and an embarrassment. Those of us who travel internationally see what a competent government can do in regard to infrastructure. What a contrast with NYC. It is a perfect metaphor for progressive governance. All talk, huge taxes and nothing gets done that needs to be done. I have some news for New Yorkers looking for a bailout from taxpayers in other states for repair of the tunnels, airports and train system: You are on your own. You are the smartest people in the world and call yourself elites. Figure it out on your own and keep your mitts off my wallet. You deserve what you elected. Pay the price. And stop coming to Florida!
5
If California is the Westside; Florida is Coney Island or Rockaway S --
PS Who do you think made Florida rich??
When I think of the MTA, one word leaps to the front of my mind: accountability. Where is it? It is fundamentally missing at every level of the agency's operations. The rot starts at the top with Governor Cuomo, who views the current crisis as an opportunity to give himself majority control of the MTA board; his counterparts in the statehouse, mostly unanswerable to NYC voters, have proved unwilling and unable to implement reforms that would put the agency back on stable financial footing. Labor unions have secured fat pensions for their members, squeezing the agency's capital and passing the cost along to riders. And MTA employees, the ones on the ground, are almost comically disengaged from the mission of assisting passengers. Even the most fevered caricatures of big-government liberalism can't quite seem to capture the scope of the corruption, indifference, and yes, unaccountability on proud display at the MTA. As a lifelong liberal, it makes my blood boil. (Don't even get me started on the Port Authority.)
At a minimum, the city must make reclaiming the MTA its top priority in Albany. It's an existential issue. In the interim, the hiring of Andy Byford as president of NYC Transit is an encouraging step toward breathing new life into the agency's calcified ranks.
214
Should have had Hillary or Christine Quinn or Eva Moscowitz do something really useful.... Why is it always another member of the testosterone driven club...
1
Andy Byford wants to shut down subway service at night totally and permanently. He totally does NOT understand how NYC operates - & that 24/7 subway access is our lifeblood, even if there are brief shutdowns at night for repairs.
Cuomo has demonstrated, repeatedly and in many spheres, that he does not have NYC's interests at heart at all.
1
I have read numerous interviews with Andy Byford; not once does he propose a permanent shut down of night service. What he does propose (and which I grudgingly agree with) is shutting down entire train lines for extended periods of time to bring them up to date. Clearly, the current, scattershot approach to maintenance is not working. It's time to try something new.
1
The subways in major European and Asian cities do not have these problems because their citizens are not afflicted with Anti-Government Fever. Unlike Americans, they would never trade away thousands of dollars' worth of public services for a tax rebate worth no more than a few hundred dollars (and special dispensations to those at the very top of the heap), because they understand the concept of Public Goods.
592
I don't disagree, but no one can question the gold star level of corruption and graft in New York City. People are tired of throwing good money after bad.
7
Exactly. Thank you.
Uh, the inhabitants of NYC are not afflicted with Anti-Government fever. They are, as a group, Progressives, with full faith in the ability of government to run things. The problem with the MTA is corrupt unions and irresponsible politicians.
5
In the article and 87 comments, no one would say it...
MOVE THE CITY
Start over someplace else. There is no solution to Manhattan's problems. They will only get worse.
Nothing lasts forever.
8
Ah WHERE might that be, kind sir/madam?
Can we save that question for next weekend?
Thank you for giving us yet another light into the dysfunctional New York City subway system. I take the train every day to get to Manhattan and back to Brooklyn and almost every day I angry because of how bad our system is. It robs me of my time with my family and damages my productivity. Every single day.
I know well that all MTA's excuses are nonsense; I've lived in Moscow for years and I still cannot get over how bad the subway in the financial capital in the world compared to many other subway systems in Europe and Russia. Whenever I hear "well, it is so hard to dig in Manhattan because of the water", I laugh- have peole ever seen the subway of St. Petersburg, Russia, that was built artificially on a swamp and has a tremedous subway system?
Please, New York Times, write an article on what can we, struggling every day New Yorkers do to make a change. I am getting so frustrated I want to move out of NYC.
42
$100Bn? At the least? As glossy as this article is, it's still part of the problem. The people of NYC's 5 boroughs are some of the hardest working in the nation, giving their taxes toward MTA transportation maintenance, and giving it year over year for generations. And this is what it comes to? The MTA has simply failed at its job, and it doesn't stop with them. The great people of NYC owe it to themselves to take a deep look at policy making, corruption, and the language of the contracts that are awarded to the companies building and maintaining NYC's infrastructure.
22
Wow. "In the machine shop downstairs, I saw workers making mounting brackets and ball bearings; even the system’s most basic parts are so obsolete that they have to be manufactured in-house."
You've gotta be kidding me.
20
About ten years ago I found out the signaling system running the NYC subway was done manually. I was appalled! Nothing has changed. On the contrary, it's become worse, as we can see. This is crazy stuff that happens in the wealthiest country on earth. You can't make this stuff up!
The streets are far too congested for the City not to have a modernized subway system. The time to invest and start dramatic improvements is now. Issue the bonds and get it going!
17
"Issue the bonds and get it going."
by the same people and organizations who brought us the current situation? Sort of like asking the Russians to forsake communism and start a democracy - are they there yet? Will they be there anytime this century?
1
New Yorkers love to complain about the subway, but even in its dilapidated state it is still a wonder of the modern world, outclassing every other system in North and South America. It is an asset that we cannot afford to fall apart, so it must have better maintenance, and where deferred maintenance has already failed it, partial replacement. It's as important as any other issue facing the city and the region.
2
Yeah, the modern world wonders.
It may outclass every other system in N and S America, but it certainly doesn't outclass every other system in western europe and Asia. Further, the people responsible for running it seem blind to the possibllities of light rail.
Throw the bums out of office in 2018.
Reverse Trump's tax cut. Raise corporate taxes. End carried interest. Raise taxes on the rich across the board - up to 60% over, say, a paltry $5million in annual income.
Thats to start.
Otherwise, forget about infrastructure.
23
Come to Chicago and see how great the El really is. Advantage: Windy City; and if that doesn't get you New Yorkers off the dime, I don't what will!
2
I agree. The El is great. But comparing that system to the NYC subway is like comparing a railroad spur to the Trans Pacific. C'mon, man!
1
Beautifully written with amazing photography, The Case for the Subway, is a sterling example of what the Times can produce when not encumbered by Trump Derangement Syndrome.
4
A remarkable piece of journalism which ties together the multi-faceted dimensions/impact of a great city's infrastructure. And also ties together the multi-faceted dimensions/impact of a terribly-designed management system made corrupt and ineffective by politicians and their politics.
New York's subway system serves as both an idealistic vision for large and still-growing U.S. cities that hold on to the belief that a mass transit plan consists of nothing more than widening interstate highways leading into/out of their precincts and as a cautionary tale per how to both fund and manage a 21st-century solution that doesn't involve pavement and exhaust fumes.
2
I don't profess to know the best way to run such a massive subway system, but clearly the methods of the past are not working. Inept management, not a high enough caliber of employees (i.e., booth attendants make 6 figures?? Most are rude, and have no clue what is happening within their own station at any point in time! Ask them why there have been no trains for the past half hour and they reply 'what?...no trains?'), insufficient oversight (who is checking up on the MTA management??), too much focus on bells and whistles (digital countdown clocks, fancy new buses or trains for SELECT lines only - while others lag behind for decades, WiFi in stations, entire stations redone as start-of-the-art - again, while others remain crumbling for decades, frequently broken elevators/escalators ('inspecting' of elevators and escalators...the biggest 'racket' out there!), etc.
Our MTA management needs to travel abroad and meet with those who run other systems such as Tokyo, to truly understand just how bad they themselves are.
Meaningful change will require tough, bold decisions. Entire lines, or sections of lines, will have to be permanently shut down while repairs are done from top to bottom. To make up for the loss, the city and MTA will have to work to provide ferry lines as well as SBS bus service in the affected areas, to connect passengers to the city, or else to other nearby working subway lines. We need more bus-only lanes. The DoT needs to TICKET double-parked cars. Etc
3
We could save some money if we had the MTA management ride the subway to work instead of having them travel to other cities! Then see how fast things change.
Whenever the MTA pushes me past my boiling point, I think of a win-win situation: Let the Japanese buy and make over NYC’s subway system. It would probably run one trillion percent better, thus making the populace much happier.
The free market contractor option didn't work for decades and infested the system with corruption, it's time to take back this valuable public resource and bring back government construction.
2
The NYC subway system was not built by government. It was built by private for profit enterprise.
1
Corrupt labor unions in cahoots with politicians is the free market?
Wealth distribution alone makes the compelling case for national resourcing of this critically ill patient. The simple physics of urban density and sociological energy (and wealth) it creates applies to our largest metro regions and the country needs to learn how this works. In our current national political theater, it's going to be a heavy lift, but it has to start somewhere.
1
There is absolutely no case for national funding. The article itself states the best way to fund it: development taxes dedicated to the subway, not development subsidies paid by the taxpayer to developers.
For example, the new Hudson tunnel cancelled by Gov Christie would have enabled N more commuters into New York. How much is the real estate worth that N more people would work in? I expect it is a great deal more than the tunnel would really have cost if efficiently built, but it would not have been efficiently built. (See the NYT articles on where the MTA money goes, and why so little is produced for so much.) In effect, the unions and contractors take advantage of essential public works, while the developers reap all the social benefit.
I seldom regard France as an example of best practice, but they do infrastructure right. A detailed article on practices elsewhere might shine a light on NY's practices. That is the only way reform will happen.
The federal taxpayer has zero interest in adding money to the pockets of NYC politicians and their cronies. The income inequality in NYC is the direct result of decades of Democrat control and corruption.
1
abmem: Actually, in New York Republican control and corruption is just as bad as "Democrat control and corruption." that's why, when I moved here over 30 years ago I registered as an independent, because both parties, and the people involved with them, stink.
"Now, no matter the cost — at least $100 billion..."?
What's the profit made by $billionaire developers and realtors over the last 20 years? Especially those getting tax-windfalls to build? (who then often simply never delivered on promised affordable housing, public amenities, or subway station improvements that were part of the deal). Ratner, Tishman-Speyer, Trump... How many $BILLIONS did they make?
Why not a little after-the-fact excise tax on these windfall profits to pay for much-needed subway repairs that these developments rely on for transporting? (well, at least the 'little people' who maintain them!)?
9
A properly functioning subway system is existential and nothing can substitute for it. Without it an image of New York City is inconceivable. Do what you have to.
5
This sums it up quite well: “it’s “insane” that so little of the wealth that the subway generates flows back into the system.” However, who is supposed to be accountable to maintain it? In one of the wealthiest regions in the world it’s one of the biggest signs of the failures of government to maintain the infrastructure required to keep it well, great.
4
The state of the subways is a test to see if an American city can actually gear up for the current century and rebuild its public transportation infrastructure. I have my doubts we will pass the test. It's not in the American DNA to travel via public transportation and jostle with fellow citizens, some of whom lack the basics of hygiene let alone charm. My bet is that the business centers will continue to disperse outward and out of state to friendlier climates with more room and more affordability for workers. Let's face it, Manhattan is insane. The prices, the taxes, the regulations. There is no reason to torture employees by making them spend three hours a day commuting, especially via a decrepit and dangerous rail system
7
So, what's the alternative?
Almost by definition the "greatest city in the world" doesn't have the worst subway system (connected to the world's worst railroads). Of course the essence of the problem is that the rich don't contribute a fair share to infrastructure, and this is getting worse.
8
This is what happens when 1% control the country / wealth. They do not use mass transit, they are not dependent upon healthcare and they have the choice of all finer institutions of learning . . . . . now, where does that leave the rest of us ?
32
After more than 35 years living in new York, I find the subway to be such an unpleasant experience, that I do everything I can to avoid it- walking, biking or taking a cab are all better. Stations are swelteringly hot or freezing, and the cars are over-packed with asocial people who behave worse than farm animals. It's a soul crushing experience, and I've had enough.
10
More room for the rest of us!
Enjoy! (As if that were possible...)
New York is the greatest city in the world, mostly because the fantastic subway system supports the high density development necessary for true urban vitality, while making it easy for everyone to get around without crippling congestion. It connects rich and poor neighborhoods and so keeps New York diverse and interesting. And here I thought that all went without saying.
I fly to NYC every few months for leisure, and use mass transit/rented bicycle to get around. The city's infrastructure (including the subway) is embarrassing compared to Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, London, or Paris.
People point to Trump or GBW as a sign of America's decline, but frankly it's shown in other areas like infrastructure and commute times for over a generation now.
We have the money and brains to beat any country in a subway network, but the bigger problem lies with attitude and people voting intelligently.
23
"We have the money and brains to beat any country in a subway network."
This strikes me about the same as ex-President Obama's expectation that the U.S. would one day win the Man's Football (Soccer) World Cup. Prove it.
1
As others have pointed out, public transportation systems in other nations including China are superior to public transportation in the US. When I return to the states I feel like I am returning to the old world. I thought US was supposed to be the best.
10
NYC, as the result of single party dominance for decades, has the most corrupt government in the country. Thus, expansion and maintenance of infrastructure costs seven times what it costs in Paris, France.
Fix the cronyism and reduce the corruption.
1
The airports are awful too. Shameful.
1
It's not just single party dominance (and by the way the state legislature is controlled by Republicans). Both parties are rotten tot he core in New York city and state.
Talk about an opportunity for graft, corruption and make work. The proposed subway modernization will make spending by the federal government bureaucracy in Washington look like a model of fiscal restraint.
3
Rebuild, but ensure incentives and penalties are in place in order to complete work on time and on estimate- and trim the upper management fat. Also, eliminate any taxpayer-paid car services for MTA upper management. They absolutely must ride the train and feel our pain.
2
When will "conservative" Americans wake up to the reality that socialized infrastructure works, is essential to the health of the nation, and it costs taxes to create and maintain?
5
They will wake up when "progressive" Americans wake up to the reality that corrupt labor unions and bought politicians do not adequately maintain working infrastructure.
1
When will NYC Democrats realize that when it costs seven times as much to build subway infrastructure in NYC as it does in Paris France, that they have run out of other people's money to squander on their cronies? There is a recent NYT article detailing the excessive costs in NYC. This has nothing to do with conservative v. progressive thought. It has to do with the massive corruption in NYC that the federal taxpayer is no longer going to fund.
Trump told the truth when he said the system is rigged, and no one would no better than he that the construction industry in NYC is a cesspool.
Liberals in NYC need to understand that unless and until they address the corruption in government there is never going to be enough money to repair their infrastructure.
It is inconceivable that with the massive ridership in NYC that fares are insufficient to pay more than 50% of the operating costs and fares make zero contribution to capital and capital repairs.
There is a limit to how long you can get away from socializing costs that benefit only the corrupt cronies and politicians and produce unsatisfactory infrastructure.
119
Liberals and Democrats? Maybe not so fast!
I remember decades ago when I worked for a local Republican government that wanted to change the State of NY law requiring towns and cities to let separate contracts for each of the construction trades. We knew that the law, I think it was called Wicks, cost local taxpayers a bundle and led to finger pointing among the trades when there was a problem or delay. At that time, each house of the Legislature was divided, Republicans controlling the Senate and Democrats the Assembly. What happened to our plan to allow a single municipal construction contract? It fell on deaf ears in both houses of the Legislature, because the unions opposed it. I wonder if anything has changed over the decades, but I think I know the answer to my question.
The NYC subway is just absolutely fantastic. It's a system built by dreamers who intended to make a massive city a reality. Four tracks! Massively long platforms! Expresses galore!
Only 15 feet down in many places (or 30 feet up), it's a quick hop down to the platforms, unlike places like DC, where the platforms are so deep that the trip to the platforms can take longer than your travel on the train. It's practically a part of street life
When I saw my first non-NY subway system, it looked like an adorable toy.
Too bad the dreamers are long dead.
Cuomo certainly isn't one. His well documented loathing of transit and his bizarre feuds with DeBlasio have made him a sad leader for the subways.
Add to that the already existing problems of ridiculous costs and no accountability, out of control contractors and unions, and no reform in sight... what can we expect but fare hikes, no expansions (another tunnel or two under the East River would be nice), no new cross-borough lines to facilitate outer borough commutes, aging cars, no further coordination of subway and commuter rail, and trains that are slower now than 20 years ago.
If the government could just maintain what it has I'd be happy enough... but it can't seem to even do that.
Sad.
Not to be too pessimistic but by the time an entirely new subway system is completely built, areas of the city of NY may quite possibly be underwater due to climate change. That's not only how long this project would take but also how quickly we are being affected by climate.
3
Actually, by the time the entire system is rebuilt, rebuilding will have to start over again from the beginning because it will have taken so long the first to be done will be outdated by the time the last is done.
1
True. Predictions are that there will be flooding caused by the equivalent of 3 hurricane Sandys per 100 years unless large water barriers are placed. They will not be placed because of the expense and folks don't want to lose their views of the river.
1
Wouldn't it be wiser to relocate the financial center of the country to higher ground? But that would diminish the political power of the current cronies and elected officials, so they are making the case for the federal taxpayer to pay for their folly.
1
.
Isn't sea level rise going to permanently flood the metro in NYC in a decade or two anyway? Pouring all that money into the metro right before all that water pours in?
3
How could London and other cities do it so well and we do it so badly or not at all? How overseas friends don't want to visit anymore because it's all so run down and they get abused at Customs. It's costing us $100s of millions in tourism.
2
They can do it because the cities and countries are willing to pay for it with taxes. Every time that gets discussed here, people say they shouldn't pay for it since they don't use it.
I have friends in the outer boroughs who drive into Manhattan, and thus don't want to pay to help the subway. Of course they ignore the fact that their drive would become impossible if everyone else had to drive as well.
This is what it is different in other countries. People are willing to pay for infrastructure even if they don't directly use it.
2
My humble outside opinion as a regular tourist: don't worry about extending the system until you've updated what you have. That's a general problem with infrastructure in this country: gleaming new facilities are much sexier than renovating old ones. But as the pictures (and my personal experience) show, the subway looks like Berlin's right after the end of WWII: bombed out and falling apart.
3
This is a nice piece and all, but what I am wondering is, as a NYC resident who uses the subway every single day, when someone is not only going to present feasible ideas on how to fix all that is decaying, but actually get the ball rolling on what needs to be done? It's agonizing - the feet dragging, the arguing, the finger pointing, the excuses. The money is there if the people dealing with the money stop mishandling and wasting it, and if politicians in Albany stopped playing games like children. Just. Do. It.
4
Sea levels will be up by 5-6 feet in 2100. Then what will NYC do?
1
NYC will address issues. A blue ribbon committee will be appointed.
1
Elevate.
Re: The "State" should pay.
"Cuomo" does not pay. People in other cities of NYS pay.
Upstate NY's cities, Binghamton, Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, Utica are decaying. Poverty and crime. NYC is booming.
It is not that " People who don’t ride the subway don’t want to pay for the subway" . They can't. Not can they afford to put better transport systems into their cities.
If NYC wants better subways do support its economic boom, it needs to pay herself
1
Billions are spent rebuilding LaGuardia and JFK airports to bring upwards of 50 million tourists here every year to fill the hotels, restaurants and theaters but just barely enough for the average working person to get to and from work.
Billions are wasted, read the recent NYT article regarding unions, the drilling of new tunnels, ets.
Who benefits?
Not the average person who relies on mass transit for basic transportation.
As always, Follow the Money!
2
What an impressive article and plan. New York you can do this!
As a visitor to nyc (I grew up there long ago) I was surprised and sorely disappointed by the so-called Oculus station/shopping mall complex in lower Manhattan. A billion $$ architectural star statement so unbelievably out of place and context that I was dumbfounded. Even the bright white color scheme surly due to fade into the city’s gray grime tone seems like an outrageous mistake. A structure that would perhaps look appropriate in a suburban setting is crammed in uncomfortably amongst the city fabric. One can only hope this white elephant that will age gently like a drunk uncle who’s wrong about everything but lovable anyhow.
7
Does the federal government have a role in helping to support and improve the infrastructure of the NYC subway? Yes, I believe it does. But that does mean yet another blank check to simply be poured into the current corrupt system.
The Times has done a marvelous job in recent article recounting the reasons behind the many financial woes of the MTA, and how costs here are many times that of other similar systems. THAT must be the first priority to fix BEFORE any more federal money is just handed over to perpetuate the rampant waste and fraud.
Some in here carp about the tax bill (really? that had nothing to do with the MTA) or nasty Republicans or the rest of the daily noise we see and hear, but any honest view of this cannot deny that decades of failure on the part of the state, city and MTA has brought about this wretched situation. Simply throwing national taxpayer money at it - and please, stop with the silly "we give more money than your state" lament - will not cause improvement but will only feed a broken political system.
2
The state of transportation in NYC is one of the reasons why I have never ever wanted to work in Manhattan or any of the boroughs. It shouldn't take as long as it tends to take to go 10-15 miles on a normal day. The entire system needs to be updated, overhauled, and brought into the 21st century. And if our governor, president, and other elected officials cannot see the necessity for a strong, clean, well run railway system in NYC or other American cities perhaps they should travel to Japan or Europe and see what those countries have accomplished. How can we consider ourselves a good country to do business with when our infrastructure is, quite literally, rotting away?
28
The president has nothing to do with it, pay for your incompetence yourself.
1
With the Big Tax cut coming for all those in the 1 percent, you know that federal support for public services like public transportation will surely decline. The greedy have taken control and will slowly choke the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Resist. Vote !!
52
I get it. The people who earn money have no right to keep it. They should be forced to give it to you. And by the way, an average middle class family will be realizing a tax savings of over $2000 due to the new tax plan.
3
You see, Paul, you have a right to money, but you also have an obligation to maintaining our nation and the society in which you live. You are better off if you live in a nation where everyone is educated to the maximum of their capacity, and workers can get to and from work with something approaching efficiency, and people get healthcare when they are sick or injured, and there is a legal system for resolving disputes, so conflicts don't fester and develop into armed tragedies. It's so elementary that we seem to have forgotten it. And we all need to contribute our fair share of our money to the national enterprise.
5
For out-of-towners it would have been nice to have the year inception of the original project.
I believe NY can look into how Stockholm modernized its subway slowly, they had same issues when it came to the decay of stations, track issues, outdated old cars, etc. They started with a new automated computer signal system and went over to mixing old with new cars for certain routes for a period of time (a whole year). They started with their oldest route and slowly replaced it across all lines. The financing of the modernization was brought up to the parliament level (equivalent to congress) but much of the income came from its fares. Currently an unlimited monthly fare at MTA costs 32 bucks, but in Stockholm it is around 100 bucks. There are no shortcuts on the money problem other than have people pay the price unfortunately. People might think this is an outrageous price but if you think how much it would cost running a car (insurance, parking fees, traffic delays, etc) it's still a much better deal.
23
The $32 unlimited fare is for 7 days. The current 30-day unlimited MTA rate is $121. This is not to discount (ha) the rest of your comment, but let's be clear about what commuters like me are paying for unlimited rides.
1
An unlimited monthly Metrocard costs $121. I believe you are confusing the weekly rate with the monthly rate.
1
In NYC, an unlimited monthly card is $121; the weekly unlimited is $32.
1
You should do a pictorial feature on some of the grand subway stations in major cities in Europe. Like cathedrals compared to this rat hole.
82
Forget the grand subway stations. NYC has a few impressive ones as well. The real point of comparison is the run-of-the-mill stations in everyday city neighborhoods. This is where NYC fails miserably. Dirty, decrepit, falling apart. Subways in the so-called 'third world' are more advanced than that of the "greatest city in the world."
2
Those cities are on earth. New York is in America.
Great suggestion! NYT, please visit and report on the trains in Europe, China, and Japan and show the U.S. (and the world) what is possible for mass transit. The U.S. is most certainly exceptional, but not in a good way.
1
When one actually thinks of the behemoth task that was accomplished back then in the planning, designing and implementing of the New York subway, it almost borderlines on magical. What the country had back then was a clear vision and determination to build and execute something necessary, worthwhile, and long lasting. What New York also had back then were men like Richard Ravitch, David Rockefeller, the MetLife Chairman and the President of AT&T who had the faith, conviction, inner strength, integrity, and a belief that anything was possible. The fact that $7.7 billion was raised THEN (comparable to $17 billion in today’s dollars) and a tax package was passed, a complete different set of values and priorities were in place then compared to what is going on in government today.
If this latest tax bill had ANYTHING to do with the improvement and upgrading of the New York subway, I would have been at the front of the line, cheering this bill on. But the biggest winners were those who needed the breaks and money the least.
Anything is possible in this country. What seems to stop us and what gets in our way is personal greed, power, and tunnel vision (no pun intended). Instead of envisioning what should or could be best for the greatest city in the world, New York, politicians continue to think of themselves and their own pocketbooks first and foremost. New York deserves better. This country deserves better. Taxpayers deserve better.
220
Subways don't get to vote. But people do and most people are interested in Numero Uno. The people at the bottom are more interested in their Section 8 housing vouchers, their Medicaid and their EBT cards (food stamps). Many of the wealthy people who own housing units in the city don't even pay income taxes in the US since they spend less than half the year in this country.
1
Will you support an infrastructure bill? I have no problem allowing your state to have your share and use it as you desire. No extra for your lack of management and maintenance.
1
What has gotten in the way is all the existing infrastructure that has to be worked around: underground electrical, water mains, much of which did not exist when the subways were built more than one hundred years ago.
"It was terrifying, but also thrilling, like the entire industrial revolution was speeding past my face."
That's cool.
6
$110 B?! Multiply it by 2-3 to be realistic! What you expect as changing the signal system would coast somehow $27B alone! How computer network with some switches here and there could cost that much?! I think the subway system should be privatized like in Tokyo! Several companies, different lines, with regulated increases of ticket fares. Private folks won't let contractors to steal or waist! Socialism never worked!
4
Communist China has faster, less expensive and far more reliable trains than New York City and they build them 1000 times quicker and with much less fuss and corruption.
10
In large part because the government can pretty much do as it pleases and not have to bother with such "nuisances" as environmental laws, hordes of greedy lawyers, unions, and all the rest.
2
They probably wouldn't have let a few meddlesome, NIMBY property owners in Queens stop them from building a subway extension directly to LaGuardia Airport, either...
2
You're right!! What we need is an army of 100,000 coolies with shovels!!
1
It amuses me how many, "red state" comments are so adamant about not a cent of federal tax dollars going into the subway.
Remind me again how much NY State contributes in federal dollars that is re-routed to subsidizing red states? Remind me how much the NYC metro area economy contributes to the entire nation's wealth?
That's what I thought.
452
I'm from Ohio, born in Cincinnati and now in retirement living in a piece of arctic tundra near Wilmington OH. I earned an MA long ago at Fordham and fondly remember the many cozy subway rides I'd take from the Bronx to patronize a superb foreign-language bookstore in Manhatten---but am appalled to see the state of those subway stops now. "Rat Hole"? No self-respecting rat should be asked to live there. I've seen the subway systems of Paris, Frankfurt/Main, London. They are indeed "Cathedrals" compared to NYC's buried Wasteland. "Cry, the Beloved Country"!
2
I would not be so smug, the taxes paid via new york corporate headquarters are on factories in Ohio, Mines in PA and farms in Arkansas. New York taxes also include a few cents on every stock trade be it the California pension selling stocks or a grandmother in Arizona buying stock. Because the flipping of capital takes place in New York does no mean new york is that productive.
4
It's not so much the money as how it's being spent.
"No matter the cost"?!
That's how you got into this situation in the first place. We don't mind spending the money, we mind wasting it. Remind me again how much we spent on Sandy and 9/11? Please spare us the indignation, condescension and stop wasting taxpayer's money from any source on absurd contracts.
That's what I think.
1
Great read. The subway is one more relic of a past in which we valued the average worker/citizen/immigrant and respected their right to reliable/affordable public transportation. Return of this subway requires a dismantling of the plutocracy and redistribution of their wealth, significant progress on the impending catastrophic climate change flooding under which NYC is at significant risk, and a new value system in which the needs of the group are put before the individual among many other things. This is not the trajectory of our day.
13
Simply, we have too many people living in the five boroughs.Don't add subways and more infrastructure to our present population peak. Don't encourage population growth.
Our city will function much better with a half a million population decline. Consider how traffic and subway crowding would end with an overall reduction of one million people.
This building craze initiative under Mike Bloomberg has to be reined in. Designing a smart decline of population will bring dramatic increase in all our quality of life.
For a start I would enforce existing housing codes. Where I live in Queens nearly every home zoned as single family has rentals in illegal basements. Some large single family home are illegally divided into many units.
The city is aware of this. Visit Flushing don,t think there is mass sharing of single residences with multiple families.
Enforcing existing laws is a start for a smart decline in NYC population.
55
Population control is a function far beyond enforcing laws. If people want to be here then they will come here to live. You advocate a decline in the NYC economy. That is something that you cannot produce. If the economy gets better, then more people will come here. Let’s improve the subway.
2
Even if the population was reduced, the subways would have problems that are not related to the numbers of people living in the city. Maintenance and upgrades have been deferred for much of its life (starting with the 5 cent fare that stayed too long, and Robert Moses diverting $$ to automobile related projects). More, and more frequent trains would reduce overcrowding, but unless the whole system is brought into the 21st Century it can't add more trains or even keep the current ones going. It was once an amazing subway system, and it is amazing they can keep it going as well as they do. It IS much improved since the 70's— the nadir, I believe— but a lot of work is needed to get it into tip-top shape.
1
Wow, I know that I now live in a country that for some has turned itself into a microcosm of NYC, but for others exactly that has become a threat. I seriously believe that the NYC attitude to life, terrorism threats, living and let others live, exploration of artistic expression is beneficial to the entire community. NYC made its reputation of welcoming newcomers after 9/11, but also welcoming exploration in performing, visual, experimental arts in all their forms.
NYC is expanding, and with success comes challenges. I do not envy the leaders when they try do fix anything, because they are in a place where nobody has been before. So, rather that competing for Olympic games ten years down the line, let us, their constituents who will pay for whatever madness we may be hooked onto, vote on these insane propositions. In my Norwegian mind, I think all summer games should be held in Athens, where it all started, and let the winter games be decided (Lillehammer would be good for me) but let us please get over this race for marginal countries to try to make themselves more than what their national economy is.
I never lived there in NYC,, but traveled there for work often enough that when my father from Norway visited, the restaurants and bars we went to met me with open arms, and with my name - and my father was beyond impressed.
That is the NYC I remember, treasure, and want to make sure survives whatever the various regulations are needed. Please remember that
1
One problem draining resources from the City is runaway tax exemptions. More and more of real property in NYC is exempt from taxation. Is complete reform of the property tax system is needed to address this problem.
And it needs to be addressed using real values and real costs to taxpayers.
5
It seems that the main problem is paying workers $ 100 an hour
to work on the Subways.
Paying them $ 400 an hour for Overtime on the Weekends
only makes it worse.
17
Well, John, I can see why it might seem like that out in Idaho where everything is subsidized by the government and it is much cheaper to live. What you probably don't know is that New York has a booming economy and countless opportunities which attracts millions of people. Most people here make at least that much money.
Not even close, Robert: https://project.wnyc.org/median-income-nabes/
$51K per household. I've seen numbers that say 2.5 persons per household on average, and that includes kids. Still, if every household were just a single person working full-time (2080 hours a year), that's an average wage of under $25/hour.
Most people there do NOT make at least that much money.
This is a brilliant article every New Yorker should read. The once-magnificent subway system, which I regularly rode for fun when I was a kid in Queens, needs major surgery. If it were a person, most major organs would have to be replaced. I am not smart to begin to know how to do this, but I think it will take a visionary and driven genius who has free reign, tons of money, and the ability to implement innovative solutions. Nothing less than the survival of the world’s greatest city is at stake.
5
Agglomeration, anyone?
I think its great that New York City wants to rebuild its subway system, but not at the expense of the federal government. Thank you.
5
Point well taken, friend. Let's let New York keep the net flow of money it sends to Washington every year so it can re-build the subways on its own dime.
1
Perfectly understandable - and we will also of course dismantle the interstate highways and military bases in Tennessee straight away.
3
Dear Southern Boy, this is extremely short-sighted. A world-class subway system would make NYC even richer and more productive, allowing it to subsidize to an even greater degree red states like Tennessee, which are huge "takers" of tax dollars generated in blue states like NY, CA and Massachusetts.
1
If we can put people into outer space, afford to upgrade our nuclear capabilities that we can destroy the planet 15 times over, can't we build a high speed, modern, state of the art mag lev subway system for our own people? For the upgrade we provide hundreds of thousands of jobs, building for the future. The pictures of the subways I used to ride on as a kid are very depressing. How have they fallen so far? What did our fathers work so hard for in WW2? We have the most high tech savvy younger generation capable of great things and yet we pour our money into tax breaks for people who are already richer than any people in history. For what? a 7th home? underneath their Gucci shoes, a crumbling train system. We need to get modern, mag lev, high speed rail, monorail. Built by the younger generation. We can do it in NY, LA, Chicago,San Francisco/ millions of jobs making life better for millions of commuters. Remember the number one cause of climate change are cars. Spewing CO2 into the atmosphere at unacceptable levels. Rail Works like European trains for our people.
36
What makes NYC more special than other cities? DC, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, etc
I agree. Light rail and monorail for DC,Boston Philly and every medium sized to large city in the union. Built by Americans for Americans. Public works.
"Not in my backyard" will keep maglev from the US. The overpowering airline lobby will also get in the way. Besides, politicians are voted by the people and once in office, they serve the special interests and the groups that will continue to fund their run for office.
How sad that in 2018 one must make a case for such an essential piece of our society
11
Great article a few days ago about the most expensive mile of tunnel in the world. What is Mayor Blasio doing about the blatant waste and fraud? Nothing
36
But fixing the subway is not DeBlasio's job, as he is quick to tell anyone who asks. In fact, just about no problem in NYC is his fault, and fixing anything that's wrong is outside his realm of responsibility.
4
Read the article. De Blasio, whom I don't especially like, doesn't have any significant power. Governor Cuomo in Albany and the State Legislature control the Port Authority, which in turn holds responsibility for running the MTA.
2
Glen you can't have it both ways. A is correct: De Blasio doesn't have any significant power in this arena. Regardless of whether you like him or not. You might as well hold the mayor of Kitty Hawk responsible.
2
Brilliant piece.
8
Hey NYC, just take all those tubes and run big fat network backbones through them. Then everyone Skypes to work, except for the ones that have to make the donuts.
Yes of course it must be properly maintained, upgraded and expanded. That might be called rebuilding, but I would not call it that. And it can't be no matter the cost. The cost should be whatever is actually needed to achieve these results. It must eliminate the waste and corruption that the system currently has and it must be funded mostly by those that use it or benefit from it. Developers pay for other infrastructure this is not that much different.
3
The problem is that "the subway" has become the worst example of government waste through public projects, in the United States. I for one want zero federal tax dollars going to any subway expenditures in the city. Let the people of NY pay for their politician's corruption.
14
Bill, the people of New York pay for lots of things in this country. The NYC Metropolitan creates about 10% of the country's GDP, and we also pay more in federal dollars than we get back. The idea that people in other states are "subsidizing" government profligacy in NYC is incorrect and untrue.
2
So when Colorado needs infrastructure repairs, I gather Colorado will do it with it's own money? This is not how a nation works together. New York (and Colorado) are two states that give more in federal dollars than they receive back. So let's make a deal.... NYS keeps its money that it pays, and we'll pay for our subway. Until then....
2
Did you not read the article? Since the 1990s, there have been no federal funds given for the shortfall.
And we should be complaining more than you: "NY state gets only 91 cents in federal funding for every dollar it sends to Washington — one of just 11 states that give more than they get, state Controller Thomas DiNapoli..."
1
How true this all is. Let's hope we get some leaders who are prepared to do more than kick the can down the road.
1
If the current MTA director takes Trump or other NYC elite on a 5am tour I doubt the same would come of the Ravitch-Rockefeller encounter.
4
" no matter the cost"
The Times just wrote a great piece about how utterly bloated the cost to build in NYC is, now it doesn't matter the cost? NYC runs 4x the cost per mile than Paris, and France is heavily regulated.
Maybe it matters to the NY taxpayers who are shelling at over, as the Times reported, 400$ an hour for overtime for construction workers, or the six-figure salaries for BOOTH WORKERS. The Unions run the city and will bilk the taxpayers for every dime. Their tactic? Wait till it gets so bad you have to pay.
I lived in a part of the country which had two seasons: winter and construction, with projects taking years longer than usual and costs skyrocketing because it isn't a construction project, it's 'how long can we keep the gravy train rolling'. Overstaff, overbill and show up to work for 10 years at the same stretch of road.
The rest of the country is pulling their hair out wondering how this is even allowed.
105
Perhaps the bloated payroll/work rules are why people are so reluctant to pay higher taxes.
1
Yup. New Yorkers have a "right" to move at will but somebody else has the obligation to pay for it.
2
I don't think NYC would have a hard time paying for it if we just got back our fair share of federal spending. NY subsidizes other parts of the country, not the other way around.
Yes, as the NY Times recently pointed out, construction costs are outrageously high in NY as compared to other major metropolitan areas around the US and the world. There are no simple answers for here are some starters:
1. Do not use union workers
2. See Step 1.
4
You can use union workers and I bet corrupt managers are a big issue as well.
2
This isn't a union problem. May be a NYC union problem, but Europe builds equivalent projects in less time for significant less money with more unions and more vacation and pensions, as reported in the earlier Times article you reference.
9
You are correct, James. This is certainly a NY union problem. As the Times other Times article points out, these costs are substantially less in other parts of the world, including France, which has notoriously strong unions. Yes, Vulcan, corrupt managers are no doubt part of the problem as well, as is the entire bidding and contracting process, but, it starts with the unions.
2
A note, the subway was originally ALL private. Why doesn't the city sell or lease the system to a company. public/private to run it and rebuild it.
This is working with interstate toll roads, why not your subway.
This also conveniently would, hopefully, get rid of the main reason your system is a disaster.
UNIONS and the extortion they extract from your city and it's riders. It also will remove the crooked political use of the subway money for projects not related to the subway.
Good luck, don't be asking Red state voters for any money until you all get serious about your problem.
4
Sparky, It’s a given that Red States wouldn’t pay for it. They don’t even pay for their own states, they just rely on Blue State tax revenue.
Yeah, those horrible unions that gave us the 5 day work week, sick time, child labor laws, and fair wages that led to the rise of the middle class(to name just a few). Yeah, they're the problem, not the CEOs who's wages continue to rise at the fastest rates EVER, not the dark money that is kicked back to politicians campaign funds. And since most of the Red States are takers living off the money provided by the Blue States, I'll trade you, NYC can keep the money it pays to the federal government to pay for a subway that keeps the nation in the BLUE
2
We already subsidize the red states...but that's a different Times article and debate.....
Thank you for this very good piece.
1
The combination of corruption and incompetence is so entrenched in the NYC subway system that true change may not realistically be possible. Limping along with a spit-and-baling-wire approach may be the best we can hope for.
3
Billions have already been poured into the subway and what comes out? Transit workers earning well into six figures with bloated pensions, administrators who have no idea what they are doing and a system ready to collapse. Yes, we should have a much better system, no don't throw good money after bad - at first I thought it was a joke, "no matter what the cost" - music to a corrupt politician's ears. Tammany would be put to shame by what is laughingly called our subway system.
22
Well, I am glad 'skeptic' somehow gets by on her less-than six figure salary. But she loses me when she suggests that we should all therefore work for peanuts.
1
NYC Democrats control the NYS Assembly. We have a Democrat Governor. The NYS Senate is kept under GOP control with tape and gum. The money is there. We need to tell our state representatives to just do it. Hey NYC voters! Stop passing the buck and make a call!
5
NY is a 24/7 city. The subway makes that possible. It is the city in which I was born, grew up in, and raised my family in and continue to live in. There is no other city in the world that can match its energy, intensity, excitement and diversity-and fundamental kindness. It is the subway that makes this spectacular city possible. Our influence is global-and can only remain that way if we come up with honest solutions to fixing our subways. The new MTA Head suggests that the subway shut down each night. This man is clearly not a New Yorker and should live here (not in the suburbs) for a short while to understand the really horrible effects of what he has suggested. The subways are the arterial blood that makes this city what it is. Those arteries are, in actuality, a marvel of planning and foresight. The only comparable is the engineering skills of the Roman Empire. Yes, the subway needs repairs. Yes, the cost of those repairs far exceed comparable work in other major cities. Yes, we New Yorkers complain about our crumbling subways-an easy conversation starter. But shutting the subways down overnight is not the answer. Proper, and neutral (not political to curry favor with unions) budgeting would made a palpable difference. A rational, long-term repair plan must be the implemented, and can be, as what is needed is known today. The constant sniping between Cuomo and DeBlasio is pathetic and childish-and demeans us all. Where is the Ravitch of our time?
7
Parts could shut down at night or other times to allow more effective maintenance and improvements.
2
That's what is being done now. My concern is the MTA's head intent to stop night operations totally and permanently.
Try the Moscow Metro some day! It has been and truly does remain one of the worlds premier public transportation systems. They know how to move millions of people around daily...quickly and efficiently!
3
Russia also executes citizens who disagree with their government (see my China comment). Me? I'll take the A train!
1
Your retort is completely irrelevant to the subject in discussion. But let's veer off into the topic that you raise and revisit the summary execution of the dissident Eric Garner at the hands of the NYPD. A death mourned by his family and friends with no accountability on the part of the perpetrators. You can take the A train. As for me, I'll continue to hold my country accountable to a higher standard.
If it costs $100 billion to rebuild a metropolitan subway system, then America is a very poor country indeed (and in a lot of trouble too). By comparison, the country of Cuba has a gross national product of $77 billion that supports the lives of 3 million more people than New York City does. You can do so much more for so much less.
1
You compare NYC to Cuba??? Try thinking!!!
1
but the costs of everything is cheaper in cuba, and their salaries are all cheaper too
1
Well, what are you thinking? I'm saying it's a disgrace that it will cost that much given that the GNPs of countries more populous than NYC are smaller. If you don't like the comparison with Cuba, there's Puerto Rico, 99B GNP.
Lately the D train has been addressing the issue of arriving "late" at its terminus in Coney Island by suddenly going "express" upon reaching the elevated outdoor tracks after 9th Avenue in Brooklyn. Surprised "local" passengers are forced to exit the train at 62nd street and stand (yes they did this during the pm rush hour yesterday) outside and await the next D train.
1
The city must rebuild it? I thought the Governor was in charge.
Maybe he would step up if he could rename the system. Maybe something like: "My Father Was The Governor and I'm Running for President" Memorial NYC Subway station.
10
It's shameful. I grew up in NY and commuted into the city but moved away many moons ago. I still have good memories of the wonder of the metropolis that makes NYC. How the governing structure, over many administrations, kicked the can on subway growth, safety, and maintenance to future generations, is reprehensible. What makes NYC great is the people. The subway is a major lifeline in the lives of many New Yorkers. Time to pay the piper.
25
Here's a good idea: Have more federal taxes that New York State sends to red states to return home to rebuild our own infrastructure. The Atlantic did a good piece showing which states are moochers. We need our money back so we can be more productive and live better.
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/05/which-states-are-gi...
56
Not happening, you would be lucky to get anything for your corruption.
BINGO. I'm in total agreement!
Well said. NY should stop sending money to Mississippi and Alabama , take all that money and rebuild the subway
1
If any reader has traveled to Europe, to any of its large cities, London, Paris, Madrid, you know what a public transportation is, how useful it is, and what value it creates for the city its located in.
Some political leaders here in the USA simply do not want to pay taxes, or have a government for that matter, they do not use the public transport system, nor will they ever.
For any city in the USA to move forward, from 2017 on, nothing can replace a good, dependable public transport system.
The only one is in NYC. Chicago is set up only to go to and from downtown, LA, Philly, Atlanta, too undeveloped to really be useful.
Be thoughtful, look to the future and grow your city....
8
Absolutely right. If the French, Spanish, British, Russians, and Germans, among others can do it. Oh but wait, most of those do pretty good healthcare too (the Russians, I suppose not so great). Frankly, I have come to detest NYC even after living there for 12 years. The only good thing are museums and theaters. Quality of life for non-rich: very poor.
2
Any city??? How foolish, here I live in a small city, public transportation is mostly a massive waste. Now in your big cities you are correct, especially those with tunnels already in existence.
1
It’s a symptom of the evisceration of the middle class. Neither Coumo, deBlasio, MTA, etc gives a hoot about the Carribean bus mechanic who commutes from Queens or the Hispanic doorman from way out in Brooklyn. The politicians never ride the subways and rely on big contributors who don’t care about ordinary subway riders.
What is needed is - per the Times excellent story on the subway tunnels- is a private public consortium to rebuild it and some politicians to fight for common folk. Hope to see it!
5
"The biggest source of subway delays is simple overcrowding". The obvious answer is to stop the growth of the human population in NYC and environs. A good place to start would be to expel the illegal immigrants and seriously reduce the number of legal immigrants.
2
Here's to hoping for the future of the subway - the lifeblood of a wonderful city that I love to visit.
But, some perspective please. It is still not a "foregone conclusion" that NYC is the greatest city on earth. I know it can seem like the center of the universe but everyone who travels knows these definitions are counter productive. Can we get over this exceptionalism, - American or New York specific - it's all silly.
71
It's been a foregone conclusion for decades and decades. That's why you love to visit. Sadly, everything that made it the greatest city on Earth has been gutted. There's very little left that's worth coming to. Problem being, that's also true of the rest of the world: corporations and chain stores have sucked the life out of everything. And so, we still shine if you want to come visit the greatest Duane Reades and Starbucks and Chase banks. That's entirely up to you. I would stay home if I were you.
3
Well said. New York today still belongs in a top 20 list, but not top 5. For anyone aspiring to fame -- or simply wanting to feel thrillingly in touch with greatness -- I'd recommend London, Shanghai, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Los Angeles or even Vancouver. The sad truth is that New York has run out of ideas. It's a salaryman's purgatory -- Osaka without the civility.
1
Thank you for this article as well as the rest of the subway series. You shone a light on the immense problems, but also showed the way to fix this mess.
It's clear the money is there, and it's time for developers to pay up — up-front contributions to infrastructure improvements, and an ongoing percentage of revenue, as in Hong Kong.
But the corruption and inefficiency in new transit work needs to be dealt with as well. There are good people working to keep the trains running, as this piece shows. That their work is crippled by graft and greed is shameful.
14
My goodness, if Hollywood was looking to shoot a scene for a post-apocalyptic movie set in a subway station, Chambers St. is ready made.
145
The first sequel to "The Planet of the Apes" obliges your request and rather perfectly I might add. Screenshot provided:
https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3448/3988890615_1824afc59d.jpg
1
And yet people forget when it was REALLY bad: the late 1970s. Makes today's subways look positively glorious in comparison.
1
If organized crime, with it's no-show jobs, work slow downs, sabotage and corrupt inspectors, foremen, MTA and Government officials were weeded out of the picture there would be plenty of money to get things done in an efficient and timely fashion. Chances of that actually happening? 0% The Tony Sopranos out there are laughing all the way to the bank.
3
I read this well-researched article, and all I can think about is the article from last week about the ENORMOUS corruption and cost overruns of NY City public works. Good luck passing financing to pay for this level of incompetence.
4
The city must rebuild it.
What we are finding out now, is exactly who the city is.
Development, especially during the Bloomberg years, hinged on tax breaks for developers. This is what trickle down looks like.
They built buildings and developed neighborhoods before decent transportation was accounted for, and now, guess who's going to pick up the tab.
Sound familiar?
Obama pointed upward, to those companies wanting to develop the U.S. But Orrin Hatch wants to bulldoze national parks for fracking. And Chuck Grassley has constituents who want bigger highways and don't want to sink more money into old ones. And Lindsay Graham wants to make money off the backs of labor in other countries, so build up the military to make jails for them. And Cornyn, who's friends used immigrant labor so well during the Great Recession, now want to send them back, and build a wall, and Mexico isn't going to pay for it, we are.
Bloomberg didn't account for the future when he let fat cats take over, and the fat cats do not want to put in their fair share. At $2.75 per ride, what happened in New York City is an obscene example of what's about to happen with health and human services across the country.
$2.75 to ride to work or to Home Depot or CVS or Whole Foods. This is America in New York City, baby. You are going to get fleeced.
3
Sure this is part of it, but the system has obsolete and very old controls, it pays people way too much for way too little top to bottom. And the users in the most expensive city in the country will just have to pay somehow.
1
Part of it? vulcanalex, the largest part of paying for it will be from riders. So that means you can develop whatever you want, build as high as you want on your land, move in stores and companies that will attract tons of people, and leave everything up to the taxpayer to provide you with all exterior services.
Does that seem right? People who used to rely on a cobbler on the corner, fish monger down the block, a store to buy shoelaces and buttons are now responsible for mega-business moving in next door? Seem okay to you?
2
It wouldn't cost anywhere near $100 billion if construction companies, trade unions, consultants, and politicians didn't rip off taxpayers as the Times points out in this excellent article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/nyregion/new-york-subway-construction...
84
Were continue to elect small mined politicians whose only vision is to get re elected. To take on great projects we need leaders who have a vision of a better future that everyone can buy into. We need that again if we want to truly grow as a country again
1
Yes like the president, that is why he got elected.
3
The president has no vision for infrastructure or anything else. The President's budget request contains significant cuts to transit funding. And where's the money to come from for our national infrastructure needs? The Republicans just passed a bill to increase the deficit.
1
Can anyone please explain to me what is the need (and actual foundation) for calling New York City "the greatest city on Earth"? It is not only childish but devoid of conventional wisdom.
2
"the greatest city on Earth"?
This is how we combat decline in USA...
with BALDERDASH !
You think? Just mentioning that a subway station is within "walking distance" to an apartment listing probably adds $400 - $500 to the rent. It's funny how rich people are so addicted to money that they cannot even tolerate the idea of spending it to enhance their investments. They will only use their position of wealth and power to borrow money, but NEVER to actually invest in anything. What a bunch of pathetic, wimpy cowards. Of course, and as always, the tax payers will bail out the infrastructure.
Another funny thing is how the rich constantly repeat like a broken record how they "pay all of the taxes". What a lie! They pay less than working class Americans. First, they use tax loopholes to cut their taxes, so they pay nowhere near the official rates for their "income" brackets. Second, they gang up via the dozens of Koch bros. "not for profit" organizations to bribe the government into lowering their official tax rates, as this criminal tax bill just did. Now, they pay next to ZERO in taxes (multi-millionaires and billionaires - not high income people who actually work for a living and contribute to society, like doctors, engineers, some lawyers, etc.).
These people are not patriots. In fact, their tireless efforts to subvert our democracy represent the single most dire threat to United States national security, far surpassing all other threats, including terrorism, illegal immigration, and even - you guessed it: North Korea.
God Bless America!
50
every day without fail, the “orange-vested mta cleaning crew” at the e line terminus in lower manhattan watches trains come in, discharge passengers and. do. nothing. they do not clean the trains. mops and brooms are there for decoration only. the "workers" board the train, sit down and play with their smart phones until it’s time for the train to leave the station. they are the biggest bunch of under-worked, overpaid civil servants i have ever seen.
213
I am not and personally know no one who works for the MTA, but I have lived near the last stop on the A Train, Broadway at 207th Street, for over 30 years. I have never seen what you describe. Never. The A Train cleaning crews always sweep or mop the cars for the time allotted for the task except when they are preempted so a train can clear the station early during rush hour. Either the A Train crews have been the exceptions all this time, which I doubt, or you have the kind of confirmation bias that plagues many middle class people who watch blue collar people working at low level service jobs. In short, I do not believe you.
4
Thank you!
michael k., apparently 206 people do believe me, based on how many folks recommended my post.
Enough already. Cuomo has to go. The MTA should be rebuilt from the ground up.
8
6 millian riders a day you say. At $2.00 per person that amounts to 12 million dollars a day the subay takes in. Seems like a lot of money to me.
1
I rode public transportation ( to JHS as well) from the age of 11 alone. From the Bronx ( #2 or 5)to ice skating in Central Park, to Yankee Stadium ( free transfers) and NY Ranger games in the "old" Garden. Rent control and a subway token made both the City and the Nation ( many of us NY'ers in the Diaspora) grow and prosper. The subways are a critical part of how to really make America great again. How many dreams began looking out the front glass of a subway car?
1
Travelling for the first time in Europe 40 years ago we were unable to find a vacant hotel room in Stockholm and were forced to find a room in the suburbs. Much to my surprise the new suburban neighborhood had built trolley stops and bike paths (and hotels) as a first order of business, not as a grudging afterthought when highways became too crowded to tolerate. This seemed sensible. efficient. and egalitarian to me then. It still does.
17
I'm not sure why you would need to make a case for a subway system. It's not even optional.
48
An efficient subway system transforms the city and improves people's life. Look at Hong Kong, Tokyo, Shanghai. Modern subway can be costly, but its economic benefit is immeasurable. Just the commuting time saved alone worth the money.
3
To say that "Today, New York’s subway carries close to six million people every day, more than twice the entire population of Chicago." is misleading. It provides close to six million rides, but that's approximately three million individual people riding twice per day. The distinction is important since it's a measure of the political strength of its ridership.
2
Yes, certainly NYC needs its subway system to be brought up to date. It should model an update on the Tokyo subway system.
But that will not be enough to create a pleasant, efficient and affordable community system of mass transit.
The people who ride the system must respect the quietude and privacy of their fellow passengers. They must refrain from degrading the system with their graffiti. They must not use the subway system as a trash container. They must not be allowed to use the subway system as homeless shelters. In short, an updated subway system cannot succeed on technology update alone. It must be accompanied by social responsibility.
How to pay for it?
Since NYC is the finance center of the world, then perhaps NYC should use its power of taxation to benefit the rest of us. Impose a transaction tax on each and every financial transaction executed through the exchanges. It may not be enough, but it would be a socially responsible starting point.
3
This is the right kind of attitude with the wrong leadership, unfortunately we have an inept Mayor, a short-sighted Governor, and then we have Trump.
The city needs a congestion pricing scheme, it needs a regional plan, not a Manhattan-centric approach, and most importantly, we need to remove the automobile as a preferred status transportation mode.
I try to ride my bicycle everywhere I go, even in this frigid weather because the subway is not reliable and doesn't do good in Queens.
So let's think and work on it, but whatever we do, we can't maintain the level of construction costs that built the 2nd Avenue subway, and that's building East Side Access in hugely inflated pricing. We need to solve that first.
2
I'll be dead or the city will be underwater before the necessary overhauls of the signal system and tracks are complete. What could be done a lot quicker is a modernization of the communications system, and high-speed internet access in every train. I've resigned myself to late arrivals and being stuck in tunnels for long minutes. What would make it bearable would be accurate, real-time, common-sense updates for stuck passengers and the ability to connect to the outside world when stuck underground for hours.
1
I don't think New York citizens should be grateful simply by comparison to less fortunate cities, but any city with a subway system like yours is miles ahead (NPI) of any city without it. Which is all the more reason to clean up, reinvest and renew it as much as possible. I'm admittedly not knowledgeable about the corruption and problems associated with labor and public ownership as found in the MTA's case, but I am aware of the unmodernized facilities at various points in the system, thanks to recent stories.
I can tell you, as someone who has lived his whole life in the Houston area, what you definitely don't want, even if New York was not exceptional in terms of population and industrial density, geography and history:
1. Transportation limited automobile and bus only
2. Foothold by lobbying automakers or political figures influenced by such to deemphasize mass transit in order to sell more cars
3. Endless road expansions to accommodate #1, which only work in the long term when the population is not growing, which is not the case in Houston, for example
The ability to even have such a large and fast system due to geology and resources, together with the sheer necessity of it are reasons enough for people to finally be proactive in prioritizing it's renewal, in my opinion. Autonomous cars are so overhyped, and even if they eventually work as planned, people will probably end up spending even more time commuting in them.
New York is New York because of the subway.
5
''... is that the situation is hopeless, that the subway cannot be fixed. ''
~ OF COURSE It can.
ANYTHING can be done if there is a will ( political or otherwise ) and there is the money to do it. The wherewithal and know how is already there, since it has been done previously in time with less engineering prowess, and other countries seem to be able to do it.
The problem is synonymous with the above train track ( Amtrak ) where trying to patch the system a mile at a time just does not work. The entire system has to be overhauled from one end to the other with rigorous and continuous oversight that is more than capable and more than sufficiently recompensed.
The system is not just trains, rails and switches but made up of people.
1
Fix the Subways. That this argument has to be made, the same one that has been made fo almost all of my 50+ years, shows that we have not had a good leader in NY in that entire time, political or private.
2
I love riding the subway when I visit New York. The subway IS New York. I can't believe De Blasio avoids it. How can he be mayor and avoid the lifeblood of the city?
2
An outstanding article. The lessons apply to Boston and to the country in general as much as they do to New York. Comparing the state of our public infrastructure to that of most western European countries, all of them with old cities, many of them with harsh weather conditions, is a lesson in humiliation. Short of converting the US into a social democratic state, linking the subway system in NY to development and zoning policy is an American solution to an American problem.
2
How embarrassing for the nation. I often think about what foreign travelers must think when coming to NYC, landing at JFK or LaGuardia, driving into Manhattan past run-down buildings, maybe getting on a subway in the city, taking it all in, and thinking "Really? THIS is America?"
263
Apparently they love it, as NYC is the 5th most visited city in the world. No matter what we do to try to keep them away, they keep coming, sadly.
3
Or the converse. Go to Paris, Berlin or anywhere else in Europe. Leave the Airport, take a one seat ride to the center of the city. Fast, clean and no fuss....and realize "why in the richest nation in the world do we put up with this"...
1
Nothing to me, you and your politicos are responsible, not me or mine. If people actually think that NYC is representative of this country they are foolish.
1
Thank you, NYT, for this much-needed article on what the subway has been and must be again. We have read, and experienced, so much about the deterioration of the system that I'm sure many people are thinking that it can't (or won't) be fixed, that the city should just give up on it. Now Jonathan Mahler has given us a symphony in praise of this bold engineering marvel with a long coda declaring that it can and must be fixed.
"The subway may no longer be a technological marvel, but it continues to perform a daily magic trick: It brings people together, but it also spreads people out. It is this paradox — these constant expansions and contractions, like a beating heart — that keep the human capital flowing and the city growing."
And the beautiful photo reminds me of the pleasure, and pride in my city, that I felt as a teenager watching the #1 train approaching the Dyckman Street station on the elevated track curving through Inwood. I feel it too when I "take the A train," barreling through the tunnel from 59th Street to 125th. We must not give up on the subway.
2
It may seem perverse given the amounts of money mentioned in this article, but the approach suggested is far too small and unambitious. What New York needs, what every American urban region needs, is first an organization, like Transport for London, that is responsible for all modes of transportation. Second, the goal needs to be allowing people to move around the region without using cars. Only be deploying and coordinating all modes of transportation, roads, buses, trains, bikes and so on can the problem be solved. Only by including the entire region and not just the city can the problem be solved.
1
"In fact, the M.T.A. has often proved all too capable of spending money, with construction costs well beyond what other cities spend on similar projects." One throwaway line which explains the entire problem. See the recent article in this same newspaper on how MTA spends 6x more than the averge to build each mile of tunnel, paying some unnecessary employees up to $400 an hour on the weekends to stand around do nothing.
3
Sorry. I don't agree that my trip across the Bronx to Long Island needs to be taxed to pay for this debacle. Likewise, the few times I need to get to NYC for business or pleasure I try to take Metro North, the only decent railway in the area....I suffered the LIRR for a few years.
The answer will be TOLLS TOLLS TOLLS, be they congestion taxes, or East River Bridge tolls.
We only drive into Manhattan on off hours or if the car is full. Tolls and parking make it a $50-$70 trip, plus traffic. A Commuter, er, Congestion Tax is only adding insult to injury...the system alone discourages car use.
Audit the MTA. Audit Port Authority. Audit the Triboro Bridge and Tunnel Authority. The waste is mind boggling, and no, I don't want to pay more to use a car so there can be more no show jobs somewhere underground.
3
This excellent story omits one important point: the solution for financing the subway "laid out by Mayor Abram Hewitt back in 1888" (Greater Gotham, Mike Wallace) was a public-private partnership- public financing and ownership; private construction and operation. Private participation was key to limiting "Tammany corruption...by contracting out construction and operation to a private company."
Such co-operation seems impossible today where everyone is only out for himself- including Coumo and DeBlasio.
1
The subway is the life-blood of the City. It needs to be safe, efficient, and pleasant to use regardless of the exorbitant cost. We've got to pay what we've got to pay and that's it.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/nyregion/new-york-subway-construct...
You know how it is around here, if you don't pay them you're not going to like the result.
Think of it as an investment in the future. When you amortize the cost over the next 100 or more years, which is how long the infrastructure will last, it will look like a bargain.
3
What a brilliant piece! Thank you, Jonathan Mahler, for researching this important issue. We love our subway and need to renovate it -- no matter the cost. I look forward to the day when we can once again join the great cities of Europe and the Far East in clean, fast and comfortable mass transit.
The subway is underfunded because the billionaires don't use it. In fact a lot of contemporary urban life, and American life in general, reflects the ways the billionaires want to live: the state of the airports, roads, neglect of efficient passenger rail transport. etc. all reflect the fact that billionaires have better ways to get around, or in the case of infrastructure think there are better ways to do it. Who needs high speed rail when you can take a private plane?
Elon Musk has informed us that the car is a better way to get around than public transport. He should know--he's a billionaire. Only the little people (as Leona Helmsley put it) take the subway.
3
Actually, didn't billionaire Bloomberg ride it, while non-billionaire DeBlasio doesn't?
What we have was once the heart and soul of the city brought low by the refusal of political leaders to provide adequate funding. And no political leader is proposing to provide anything close to adequate funding. The subway and eventually the city are doomed.
Thanks for a fantastic and much needed article.
2
I lived and worked in Washington DC when the new Metro lines were built and started to operate, making access to almost everything a whole lot easier and faster. But although "new" compared to New York's system, the DC system hasn't been properly maintained and needs extensive repairs. When I Iived and worked in Manhattan 20 years ago, I couldn't imagine work without the subways. Now I couldn't imagine being in New York -- or anywhere else -- without Uber and Lyft. Allowing high-speed public transit to decay leads to more road traffic and accidents as well as wasted time, our most valuable asset.
2
It won’t happen in my time, but reimagining the subway would require it to stop being a NYC specific entity. It’s got to be more regional — selective extensions to NJ and Long Island. Taking that larger footprint can draw new riders and sources of funding. Plus those extensions are less expensive than those in Manhattan.
1
What a tremendous article. Much of New York's success has been, and still is, predicated upon the success and efficiency and its transit systems; chiefly its subway. All reasonable steps should be taken in great haste to update, improve, and modernize what was once the world's greatest subway system. And though obviously incredibly expensive, over the long run it is cheaper than making continual and endless incremental repairs.
After the flood damage resulting from Sandy and with sea levels rising, is it time to rethink the entire concept by removing the "sub" from subway and putting it, except for river crossings, above ground? Given the recent expose on the high cost of tunneling, it probably would be cheaper as well as safer from the increased threat of flooding. It might even add to the beautification of the city by making arteries like Eighth and Lexington Avenues into pedestrian only walkways with the new elevated trains running above them.
1
There is a direct relationship between real estate values and proximity to mass transit. A surcharge formula of FAR to proximity to a subway station should be added to real estate taxes. The value of NYC real estate is enhanced by mass transit. Those who benefit should pay.
1
Correction--I can think of lots of residences proximate to mass transit with long commute times. Mere proximity alone does not drive value--commute time does. A Rockaway resident or someone at the end of any line does not have a short commute!
3
I love the subway and it's the only way to go. With America's burgeoning population, we need livable cities, not the sprawl of sterile suburbs, and we need railroads and subways, not more cars or highways; witness LA, the car doesn't work anymore. No choice, keep building or modernizing the railways, only way for the future.
4
Here's the real problem with the subway- it's too cheap.
I can go from Coney Island to the borders of Westchester for $5.50 which a large majority of riders wouldn't even pay anyway due to various purchase discounts. Try that in a private car service, cab or even your own vehicle and see what it costs.
1
And that is $5.50 round-trip! 24 hours a day! 7 days a week! (take that London, Paris, Hong Kong, Mexico City Et al.)
1
Fascinating article. It was like going back in a time capsule to 1960 until you realize the equipment is still in service. No doubt that any rational person would conclude that something must be done. However, we commit collective and historic acts of self-destruction everyday.
If you look at some of the sea level projections in the next 100 years, it seems like an unwise multi-billion dollar investment to continue to build underground and below the water table. We need to totally re-think and re-invent before doubling down on duplicating a 100 year old approach.
1
The subway is the economic life line of the city and the City of New York is the economic engine for the state. Despite this, Albany's aversion to taxes has left the system a wreck.
At some point you get what you'r willing to pay for. But the Governor only wants to pay for ribbon cutting ceremonies at station renovations, most of which are way over budget but produce contracts for construction, architects, engineers and other venders, all of whom make campaign contributions.
And we can't leave out the unions. Featherbedding is all too common. There are plenty of jobs that can come from a modern, efficient well maintained system. Unions need to give up their focus on short term gains and see the big picture.
Finally, it's time for a dedicated public transportation tax. It could be a single tax or a series of taxes from various sources that can only go to the MTA. It should be progressive, not like sales taxes and it has to involve the entire region served by the system.
And it can't be treated like the lottery tax where the legislature simply deducted the amount they had budgeted for education and simply replaced it with the new lottery money.
Nobody likes taxes, but you can't keep raising fares to support the subway. If we don't act now it will only get more expensive latter.
2
"the individualism and insularity that defined its 19th-century frontiers" is 100% myth. The author might take time to reflect on the Louisiana Purchase, the Indian wars, the railroad and telegraph, and the Homestead Act. Hard to see how all that hardy individualism would have survived without the support of the federal government and local communities.
8
I am progressive politically. When I see our mayor traveling around the country/world pushing progressive policies, I do not care, I only think FIX THE SUBWAYS.
I am also a registered Democrat here in NY. I have vowed to never cast another vote for De Blasio or Cuomo in any office they run for unless they do something substantial to fix the subway. It's only one vote but they will never get it until something is done.
3
The unions and contractors out votes you easily and that's why nothing will ever change. They've been at it for 70 years.
1
Daily from 1957 through 1963, I travelled the I.R.T. Broadway line from 238th to 86th St. The stories I could tell! This wonderful article brought back all those memories. When I visit NYC now, I mourn how the 1% has destroyed much of the equality that existed in the city back then.
Your article pointed this out in a most shocking paragraph. "The subway has made a lot of people very rich. And without carefully constructed zoning laws that foster inclusive growth, it can create the kind of gentrification that contributes to America’s growing income divide. That divide has been especially acute in New York City. The Fiscal Policy Institute, an economic think tank, reports that between 1980 and 2015, the share of the country’s income going to the wealthiest 1 percent increased from 10 percent to 22 percent. In New York City, it went from 12.2 percent to 40.9 percent. The subway can help narrow that divide by doing what subways do best: increasing density. "
Ojalla!
2
I cannot get the insanity and corrupt construction practices outlined in the Times last week out of my mind.
I haven't yet read this article, but I'm sure it will be like preaching to the choir for me. Yes, we need to rebuild and expand our subway. We need to bring rail to the train deserts of eastern Queens, Brooklyn, and most of all, Staten Island.
The technology is easy. The construction while complicated is pretty much old hat.
Only politics and money stand in the way. The way contracts, work rules, and financing is done for these projects simply must be changed.
Imagine, the current proposed cost for Phase Two of the Second Avenue subway is about $6 billion. SIX BILLION for a couple of mile of subway. That is beyond appalling.
Judging from the article exposing the corrupt construction practices, I say turn the entire thing over the RATP (the Paris Metro). They'll build all three remaining phases of the Second Avenue line for that same price tag.
At that rate, $100 billion will buy us an entirely new subway system, one that even I, sitting in the middle of Staten Island, can get on without crossing a bridge or taking a ferry to a station.
1
When I saw the pictures of Chambers St station I thought this must be some kind of ghost station, defunct and crumbling for decades already – but it's actually a live station in the heart of Lower Manhattan! Maybe I'm spoiled by the public transit systems of European and Asian cities too much, but this well-written and -photographed account on the state of the NYC subway, this icon of an already iconic city, is just harrowing and downright heartbreaking.
2
I've been riding the Mexico City metro all week, and have marveled at the speed, frequency, efficiency, cleanliness and affordability (25 cents a ride) of this subway system, the second largest in North America. Last year, I timed how often a subway arrived on one line: every 20 seconds! For all the bad press Mexico gets, it is obviously doing something right. Not for the first time, I wish U.S. transit and public works authorities would make an official visit and seek advice from Mexican leaders. That, of course, will never happen.
1
We read yesterday how subway construction costs in New York. at least twice as much as it should. The system produces a corrupt cabal between contractors and labor unions that have no incentive to contain costs or unnecessary employees. Fix that and then tell us we must spend to fix the subway.
3
I challenge this assessment: "Translation: too many passengers, not enough trains."
There are many reasons trains have trouble closing doors and leaving stations, but the main one is inconsiderate passengers taking their time both leaving and boarding trains. Compounding this at rush hour are the inconsiderate ones who will not leave the coveted spots to stand right next to the door, and/or will not make room for more passengers to board when there is clearly room for more if they would move further into the cars just a step or two. They are especially inconsiderate when there is clearly a need.
Compounding the problem to yet another level is the conductors themselves who often wait with doors open for far too long for all of the above drama to sort out, and/or impatiently open and close the doors repeatedly like guillotines upon those more determined to be the last ones to squeeze on.
This is all to say that I would argue we have a cultural problem as much as an infrastructure one. Both passengers and conductors could make vast improvements in train arrival and departure performance if they would be more considerate and cognizant of the overriding need to keep the trains moving!
3
I have read all the recent reporting the Times has done on the subway, and am settling into this new article, immensely grateful the issue is being vigorously, relentlessly reported. But what took so long? There are other city institutions that need to be investigated down to the bones - please, NY Times, do it, be a great local paper too.
2
A long-form article about the NYC Subway and no mention of the private companies that built 2/3 of it (and the PATH and almost every regional commuter line) in the first place? Color me surprised.
3
The full history is too complicated for a comment here, but the subways were never a fully private system. All of it was built on public rights of way provided by the City, and the large majority of it was built under contracts issued by the city, not by private companies at their own risk. The BMT and IRT were essentially public utilities, not truly private companies.
2
You're right of course, but my issue is with the article not even mentioning this complicated history. The author misleads a casual reader in the opening paragraph. It's too bad, because a discussion about turning the MTA into a utility or some other public-private organization would be a more useful and interesting read than what was presented here. You don't even have to look further than the PATH line running up 6th ave to see an example of how this could be accomplished (and yes I'm aware of the Port Authority's unique faults and levels of corruption).
2
Personally I'd rather we spend less than $100B, still fix and keep the subway, but get rid of the MTA. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that MTR (Hong Kong's private subway operator, which also runs subways in London, Stockholm, Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Melbourne, and Sydney) would do a much better job for much less money.
4
As was clearly spelled out in the 12/28/17 article right here.....other cities pay far, far less to their unions -- which are not corrupt and don't bribe on political party for favors -- NYC's costs are literally 10 times what they are in costly cities like Paris and London!
1
That photo of the Chambers Street station said it all. I got off at that stop for years when I worked on the WTC 1971-1975. It didn't look nearly as bad..
I watched a You Tube video of the refurbishment of the London Underground which turned 150 y/o in 2013. What a marvel. Tile everywhere, staircases replaced with moving sidewalks and elevators in nearly every station. LED lighting to reduce electricity production costs as well as maintenance. The stations were cleaner than restaurants. Platform management to stop riders upstairs from overcrowding the train platforms and answer questions.
It's the passengers too. They wouldn't think of throwing trash on the tracks, adequate trash receptacles and a rule: NO EATING ON THE TRAINS! No pole dancers and musical acts. Courteous passengers respecting others.
If London can do all this why can't New York City?
While there watch the video of the Glasgow renovation which was still using cars from 1895. They tore the whole system down and up and built a whole new system. Widened tunnels, new trains and stations and new entrances.
In both cities there was civic pride due to what the people considered one of the most important parts of their daily lives, trains that ran on time and were clean.
Perhaps it's past time to send Cuomo and the MTA management on a trip to London so they can see what a real subway system looks like.
12
Yes. One of the worst parts of the condition of the JZ line at Chambers Street is that if you walk up the stairs, and around the corner to the 4/5/6 line, you find an new nearly immaculate platform in the very same station.
the difference between the two platforms is the distance between the first and third worlds. One line serves the UES, the JZ runs to some of the poorest neighborhoods in Brooklyn.
8
The New York subway is but a paradigm of the city itself. Once vaunted as the "greatest city on earth" in a P.T. Barnum way, it's now a shabby shost of what it was even in my almost-forgotten childhood 60 years ago. Shanghai has twice the people and at least twice the capital and managed through the Chinese command economy to thrust itself upon the world in a much more effective way. Let NYC and its subway sink. New York has become the exclusive preserve of the effete and the rich. Make them foot the bill for the subway's rehabilitation. Why should the rest of the taxpayers support it in its senescence and decay?
5
The wealthiest people on the planet - people with more money than the government budgets of several nations - own homes in skyscrapers throughout Manhattan. They buy them largely for the views. Make them pay for those above-ground views by taxing the daylights out of them to pay for the improvement of underground transportation. Problem solved.
7
How come Walentas and other developers still get 20 year tax abatements as their developments change the very nature of of our existing neighborhoods and stress our transit systems?
This means that we, the unserved citizens, are subsidizing development, even as gentrification pushes us from our long-time homes, while we deal with construction noise and debris, the attendant over-crowding... and the Walentas' of the world cash in and pay little to nothing for 20 long years..and the subway is left to rot.
Even with zoning changes, removing tax abatements might slow the growth that has increased so much misery to riders. And face it, these developers have plenty of money..let them pay taxes like the rest of us.
Without a working subway NYC is untenable and unworkable. As it is now, between the overcrowding, delays, and break-downs, riding to work is an exercise in abuse with no guarantee that one will arrive on time or at all.
101
"New York City will be just some city."
This may surprise you, but it already is just some city. The creative class is looking elsewhere for inspiration. New York's status depends on its thriving finance industry. And the finance industry depends on government regulation to sustain its role as the essential middle man that controls the nation's capital.
The real question for the subway and other infrastructure is a central one for that finance industry, where does the money come from and is New York City the best place to invest it. If not, its time to cash out. The model is Sears.
3
The finance industry: free riders skimming money off people who actually produce goods and services.
3
What is the point of digging new subway tunnels underground in a city that by 2100 will be awash in sea water every few years?
70
You raise an excellent point regarding the need for addressing climate change (and mitigating the effects of it with regard to the subway).
Reality is, the NYC metro area contains (give or take) 10% of the population of the entire country. It's responsible for 1.83 trillion in GDP (2015 number) which would rank bigger than all but 8 countries on earth. If we don't maintain/build the infrastructure to support that (and it's growth), that's something that's going to harm not just our own economy, but the global economy as well in the long term.
5
I agree. But how are you going to keep the water out. Dykes?
4
A tidal barrier system which would protect all of NYC would cost roughly $50 billion. Someone should do the math. How much real estate value would that be protecting? A heck of a lot more than $50 billion we can be sure. With that consideration, we can then see that a tidal barrier is a relatively cheap investment. As is a decent subway sytem.
4
So, at the end of the day, we have
- A system that is so corrupt at every level from Cuomo to token clerk that according to the Times it costs five times as much money to build a mile of subway in New York as it does anyplace else.
- A system that is run by state politicians who aren't answerable to the people who use it, as the Mayor would be.
- A system that private enterprise built eagerly only to have government force the private companies out of business and spend the next 60 years building nothing while the subway became a feeding trough for politicians, corrupt MTA officials (I've heard that those "competitive bids" are a dog and pony show), and a featherbedding union with work rules so absurd that a token clerk isn't allowed to reduce delays by helping a sick passenger on the platform.
It's easy enough to see what has to be done by way of engineering and construction, but unless someone reforms this turgid, corrupt mess, nothing will improve.
As a start, I would suggest that subway riders organize a one-day subway boycott, organized around very clear demands regarding funding, projects, costs, and the return of the subway to municipal control, to be repeated as necessary until the system is fixed. Perhaps the adverse publicity will have some effect on the unprincipled but image-conscious Cuomo, and he in turn will pressure the even less principled state legislature.
260
Yes, the massive corruption associated with NYC subway construction and operations is well known throughout America. That is why I will urge my Texas senators and representative to vote no on any federal subsidy of the NYC subway. If it is so valuable to NY and NYC, let them pay for it.
3
"It's easy enough to see what has to be done..."
Are you sure about that? I would think it is more akin to overhauling a running engine blindfolded.
Not that many people can afford a boycott, not would it get much.
Notice from the article who drove a successful change in MTA investment ....the banker Rockefeller. If you want change ...Boycott the Banks!!
1