>>1971641I agree that NYC's metro has serious problems, but if you think crime in the system or a bunch of underperforming bus routes is the core problem, you're stuck in the '80s. This Slate article goes in depth into why more money isn't translating to better outcomes:
https://slate.com/business/2023/02/subway-costs-us-europe-public-transit-funds.htmlA few numbers. In 1990, MTA had 1600 full-time employees managing its capital projects. By 2011, that number was down to 124 people, and they were overseeing 20 billion dollars in capital projects. 100 people might sound like a lot, but for a system the size of the MTA it isn't enough people to actually do the studies, plan the ROWs, design the infrastructure, and so on. Most of that ends up getting contracted out, and its those contractors who retain the lessons learned and keep the expertise, rather than the MTA.
For every new capital project, the MTA is having to relearn everything that the contractors from the last project learned. This results in an agency that doesn't even know what it wants, leaving room for contractors to grift in extra profits. Dumb shit like MTA's new stations fitting in full mezzanines plus tons of extra back-end equipment storage, conference rooms, etc. underground, rather than only drilling what they need for the platforms and putting the rest somewhere else above ground, as is common practice in Europe.
Lack of public sector expertise for capital projects like this isn't limited to the MTA either. MBTA had six (6) full-time employees overseeing the Green Line Extension, CAHSR had something like 10 people overseeing the project until around 2018-2019, when Newsom started adding funding for the rail authority to expand its internal staff.
