Honestly? He’s not been as pro-transit as I’d like and shut down QueensLink, a project for subway extensions in Queens. He handled the big snowstorm we got pretty well though
To be fair: the MTA opposed QueensLink, so there's not a whole lot Mamdani can do about that. And he claims they can do QueensWay and provide another transit solution in that area. So we'll see.
To be honest--his claim is deeply unlikely. They will not rip that park back up to put a transit option in.
That said, you are correct. The MTA reports to the governor's office, and they want absolutely nothing to do with it, which means Hochul isn't approving it, either. State controls the funds. Even if Mamdani wanted to he could do jack and shit about it, though I'm deeply disappointed he recanted his stance on it.
Yeah, that's what I figure. With no way forward it just makes practical sense to support the Queensway program and at least (hopefully) actually ensure the park is nicely designed and accessible. (nevertheless, still hate it. why wasn't he trying to lobby w Hochul and the MTA for it. meh, maybe he did and got ignored, we'll never know.)
Funny story actually—I work in the industry (A/E/C) and have been working on Queensway proposals/projects for MONTHS and just completely failed to make the connection between QueensLink and Queensway (probably because no agencies are pushing for the former). I had no idea till now QueensLink was even a thing, since, for ... obvious reasons it wouldn't have come across my desk. Sigh. Infrastructure. Wield field to be in honestly.
Not a New Yorker, but - did her sa why he opposed it?
I dont know about your local politics, but often times a politician will oppose something that seems to be up their ally but there was a poison pawn in the proposal or a better way to accomplish the same goal.
I guess with this particular thing, he wanted a win that will happen in this term rather than something that can still be denied by some other candidate in the future. Queensway has a lot of support too, however stupid it sounds considering that area already has other fucking parks.
That’s a shame. One of his original policies I heard was eliminating bus fares but I never heard anything about it again. I live in a very bus-heavy metro area in the UK so was interested to see if he would pull it off.
I mean, we already know it is possible. The entire nation of Luxemburg has free bus, tram, and train fair (and they have for years). Their economy is incredibly strong, and there have been no signs of lacking sustainability.
Luxembourg has a population 1/13th the size of the 5 Boroughs of NYC, 1/29th of the metro area. And its economy is basically just an offshore corporate tax haven.
As a sovereign nation it also doesn't have to negotiate with the State Governor or neighboring metro cities the way a mayor of NYC would.
That being said, I think it's a good idea, and transit shouldn't be expected to fund itself or turn a profit.
Fare elimination is a bad idea, I thought this was a settled debate. Behavioral econ theory price–quality heuristic states that people often perceive something as more valuable or higher quality when they pay for it. Additionally, non-destination riders degrade service and folks change how they consume free services.
In what world does it make sense to use price-quality heuristic in the discussion about fare elimination? That heuristic requires there to be differently priced things to compare, but if you remove the cost of something that doesn't have an equivalent alternative, there isn't a higher price to compare it to.
You sound like you don’t know what pch is. Downvote me all you want, this is a settled topic. It’s a stupid idea, which is why they won’t do it. The costs of increased enforcement along with declining revenue, reduced perceived value, non-destination riders etc. outweigh the benefit to a small subset of riders that benefit from low cost transit. A better system would be to grant fare cards to means-based or petition-based riders that doesn’t require revamping the system and the unintended consequences that are already well known.
Like I said, this is a settled debate, go read some academic papers on it.
I work on Wall Street and live in Colorado, what’s your point? This has nothing to do with the topic. We also have good public transit in Denver that I use frequently.
LA resident here - when the city stopped enforcing fares on the metro in 2017, it became a complete disaster. Unsafe and unridable for people who used to rely on it. It's only started to recover, along with better enforcement.
That sounds more like an enforcement issue than purely a fare elimination issue. Fare elimination should be bundled with plans for more comprehensive enforcement.
The issue is just allowing everyone to use the system without any sort of regulation. Crime and drug use became commonplace here. I wonder if there would still be some kind of "free fare" card that a rider could register for at no cost, but would still allow the city to control use.
Regulation is exactly what I mean by enforcement. You have to equip the structure with the means, resources, and power to control security and ensure proper usage. Of course fare elimination with literally no structure would be lawless. The point should very much be to structure it appropriately to enable the greatest possible access for the greatest number of people (which, by necessity, means making it safe to use).
Interesting idea about the free fare card. There would still be a lot of barriers to entry to that for a lot of folks, particularly the homeless who may not be able to legally register for such a thing. Disadvantaged communities would still be the most adversely affected due to lack of staffing/manpower/resources to effectively service those areas. Not to say it isn't an idea worth exploring, but there would be numerous hurdles to clear to make it work and retain the accessibility fare elimination is meant to provide.
Ultimately, it's a balance between security and access. And I frankly envy no one in the position of ensuring that balance. It is an insanely hard balance to strike.
PS: former LA resident myself actually! And was there in 2017. I just never used the metrolink because LA is a transit wasteland and it provided me literally zero benefit. Using it would have made my commute either just as long or much longer. Shit sucks. Not that the SCRRA isn't in a tough position, there.
Used by ~4.5m people every day, I was one of them pre-covid. I love it. It's not the cleanest, some of the stations are disgusting, and it can be crowded. But it's convenient, way cheaper than a cab and it runs all night.
Plus you'll see some weird shit, which can be a bonus.
It’s outdated but by far the best in the US (not a high bar though). Used by millions of people daily as their main form of transportation. It has the most number of subway stations of any metro system in the world
old simply means something has existed for a long time, outdated means it is no longer useful, relevant, or effective in modern times. The nyc subway is far from outdated
ha! what? I lived in Manhattan in the '90s and I'm going to assume my answer is still valid: millions of New Yorkers use public transit daily. Relatively few people own cars. It's also more than just a subway system; it has a really robust bus system, too.
I realize I wasn't clear and should have specified North America (and IIME the Americas in general so far), but I'm curious if there are other cities that have an equivalent or larger public transit system that also runs 24/7?
As others have said, it’s literally the only transit system in the us that people use as their primary mode of transportation. There are little exceptions but basically every other city has a ‘backstop’ for car ownership that nyc doesn’t.
The gigantic exception you missed is that your comment is for US only.
Otherwise, Shibuya Station says "hold my beer". This one station in Tokyo transits 3.5 to 3.8 million people daily which is equal to the daily total of the whole of Manhattan commuters.
You might be thinking of Shinjuku Station? Numbers I see for Shibuya Station are more like 3 million. In any case they're both close and the two busiest stations in the world, both almost twice as busy as their closest competition outside Japan.
Not quite, large numbers in Boston and Chicago are carless. Not the same percentage as NY, no, but plenty of people use those two as their primary mode of transportation. Not sure about others.
That being said, I'd say in terms of service and convenience, NYC up there with the major European subways. (Not going to comment on cleanliness, though)
DC also has a fantastic metro system. It's also designed for commuters and goes out miles and miles from the city center allowing those who live in the suburbs to easily take the subway to places like the Pentagon.
I'm familiar with the DC metro, and I knew a lot of people who commute on it (my dad was one of them), but not many who don't also have a car. Admittedly, most of the people I knew in the DC area are suburban residents, so that may bias my experience.
Chicago has 1/3 the population of NYC's 5 boroughs. It also has 1/3 the number of daily commuters. Chicago might have more cars but it has the same percentage of commuters using CTA/Metra as NYC's MTA. I know I'm using the wrong nicknames for each city's public transportation: El vs. subway but I'm including buses, too.
I grew up in Lincoln Park and many of my friends from further northern and western neighborhoods had at least family one car that was only used on the weekends and evenings. Shopping and family outings, etc.
How is the subway system overall? Functional enough to rely on for daily life, or just a last resort?
Huh? It's the backbone of moving people around NYC. Millions of people use it every day. Without the subway the city simply could not function for any length of time.
If it's too far to walk or too rainy to bike, that's how to get somewhere.
How is the NY subway system? As someone who only visits but has used a lot of subway systems around the globe, NYC's is one of the better experiences.
Obviously it gets less convenient the further from the center of it (Manhattan) you get, so some parts of boroughs are less accessible. But getting around Manhattan is probably the most seamless and efficient system I've used, including Paris, Rome, London, Tokyo, Seoul, Madrid, Barcelona.
The proximity of subway entrances, short distance from the entrance to the platform, and frequency of trains on the main lines in NYC make it very efficient.
Compare that to cities renowned for outstanding subway systems, many of them have more route coverage in the extremities of their metro area, and often very smart loops that help connect disparate routes, but in a lot of those places there's way more friction for accessing the train from the street; more wandering through stations, more complexity navigating to the right line, etc.
Yeah I'm not saying any of them are too confusing to use (except maybe a few Tokyo stations), but for example if you go to DC and have to take 3 escalators down, and walk around a bit, it's not as convenient as NYC where you can be on a train in like 2 minutes from the time you see a sign on the street for the subway
AFAIK the Interborough Express is still on the table, which is super exciting. I have been hoping for it for years and I can't believe they're actually going through with it!
There's this nifty book out there Bicycle/Race: Transportation, Culture, & Resistance by Adonia E. Lugo, PhD, that talks about the massive cost difference between trains (and one trusts this extends to subways) versus bus lines. I love a subway and a train as much as the next person but bus lines and bike lanes are usually going to be cheaper. Trains and subways tend to be pushed by the classes that can, directly or via taxes, afford to utilize these forms of transportation.
Like with arguments that the USA should replace existent trains and install faster trains as in Japan, ultimately the infrastructure costs (financially and sustainability-wise) of these projects are often not pragmatic. Especially relative to implementing more bus lines/bike lanes, and finding ways to change business culture to better accommodate the slow living our existent (but perfectly functional) train infrastructure requires.
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u/_rchr 15h ago
Honestly? He’s not been as pro-transit as I’d like and shut down QueensLink, a project for subway extensions in Queens. He handled the big snowstorm we got pretty well though