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How Politics and Bad Decisions Starved New York’s Subways

nytimes.com

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Re: How Politics and Bad Decisions Starved New York’s Subways

#301

Post by camillomiller »

crazygringo wrote: post #243
camillomiller wrote: post #122

New York's transport is baffling to me. The lack of a proper subway or special express train option to get quickly to the airports is doubly baffling. I guess the cross-state jurisdiction is one of the issues with Newark, but the AirTrain solution over at JFK is way subpar if compared to other major cities. I've been there twice in a few months and it's simply a disaster. 2.5 hrs by car to get to Newark from Williams…

What are you talking about? From Penn St you take the NJ Transit train to Newark airport, or the LIRR train to Jamaica where you transfer to the AirTrain which brings you to your desired terminal at JFK. LaGuardia doesn't have a train option though. But yeah, taking a car from Newark to Williamburg in the afternoon, I guess you've learned not to do that again. :) NJ Transit is your friend.

I’m comparing it to Berlin, where I live. The metropolitan area is larger and the airport (sxf) farer from the center. You can get there with a regional train that you can get from Central Station (Hauptbanhof), Friedrichstrasse or Alexanderplatz (then a couple more eastern stations). Transit time in rush hour is max 45 mins. Tegel is even easier, it’s basically inside the city. 25 minutes tops by car from any area in North Berlin. Max. 45 mins with metro+bus from everywhere else within the metro area. Yeah, I’m spoiled I guess. Now if we could only have a major modern airport on top of this it’d be nice, but that’s another story

Re: How Politics and Bad Decisions Starved New York’s Subways

#302

Post by camillomiller »

apaprocki wrote: post #285
mlrtime wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From Manhattan, you need to take 3 trains to get to EWR. Subway, Path (NJT), shuttle. LGA: None JFK: Subway,AirtRain Compare this with HKG or LHR, it is pathetic.

I'm very familiar with NYC's options and with LHR. You compare JFK with LHR, not EWR or LGA (I suppose you'd compare EWR to Gatwick and LGA to City). To get to any reasonable business destination in London (City) area, you take Heathrow Express and then transfer to at least 1 or more tube. That is directly analogous to taking the AirTrain to an express train. When I leave my office on 59th & Lex, I walk to the 53rd s…

True, but business trip, I wasn’t booking personally

Re: How Politics and Bad Decisions Starved New York’s Subways

#303

Post by camillomiller »

clutchski wrote: post #171
camillomiller wrote: post #122

New York's transport is baffling to me. The lack of a proper subway or special express train option to get quickly to the airports is doubly baffling. I guess the cross-state jurisdiction is one of the issues with Newark, but the AirTrain solution over at JFK is way subpar if compared to other major cities. I've been there twice in a few months and it's simply a disaster. 2.5 hrs by car to get to Newark from Williams…

NYC's airport transit isn't as good as other cities (Tokyo, Toronto, etc) but nobody who lives in New York would make that trip by car at that time. They'd fly from LGA or JFK or take the car.

Apparently helicopter is also an option for the slightly richer. Not even 1%ers, it’s like 250$ from manhattan to jfk

Re: How Politics and Bad Decisions Starved New York’s Subways

#304

Post by nerflad »

apaprocki wrote: post #283
TheReveller wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The NY subway is also able to run 24/7 because of redundancies in routes, so they can perform maintenance without the subway stopping. London doesn't have this option.

Worth pointing out that there are redundancies in some routes, not in others. Sincerely, L train rider :)

Yeah service to Williamsburg is still dicey. You can be a sardine on the L, or if you're close enough to the JMZ, you'd better not have to ride back after 8pm (one or more of the trains may not be running).

Re: How Politics and Bad Decisions Starved New York’s Subways

#305

Post by forapurpose »

caseysoftware wrote: post #108
forapurpose wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

U.S. politicians aren't punished or rewarded for their choices in funding infrastructure. In large part, it's because one party supports, as one of their defining policies, almost any reduction in government spending, revenue, and services. I'm not sure the other party faces significant opposition to cutting infrastructure. You can see it right now in the current tax bill. There is plenty of discussion about what wil…

That's an interesting theory but the New York City Council is over 90% Democrat[0], the New York State Assembly is over 70% Democrat[1], and there's only been one Republican governor in over 40 years.[2] If you're going to blame Republicans, you should probably make sure there are enough to make a difference.. 0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Council 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Ass…

The parent misinterprets the discussion and makes incorrect factual assumptions.

First, the question the GP addresses is about the U.S. in general, not NY subways:

> I don’t understand why American governments are so bad at providing public services.

Second, the GP discussed problems in the voting public and in both parties, while putting a preponderance of the responsibility on one party - a conclusion that seems hard to escape. The Democrats aren't radically cutting revenue and spending everywhere they are in office.

Finally, the NYC subway is operated by the state, not he city, and I believe it is funded in large part by state. Much infrastructure funding also comes from the federal government.

Re: How Politics and Bad Decisions Starved New York’s Subways

#306

Post by forapurpose »

Chathamization wrote: post #65
forapurpose wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

U.S. politicians aren't punished or rewarded for their choices in funding infrastructure. In large part, it's because one party supports, as one of their defining policies, almost any reduction in government spending, revenue, and services. I'm not sure the other party faces significant opposition to cutting infrastructure. You can see it right now in the current tax bill. There is plenty of discussion about what wil…

It's not just funding transportation though, it's also the oversight of projects. Few people take transportation funding into account when they vote; almost no one seems to take transportation oversight into account. I think also looking at it simply as a party problem hurts things, because there can be a lot of difference within the party, but people tend to overlook these things (and again, not just in terms of the…

> looking at it simply as a party problem hurts things, because there can be a lot of difference within the party, but people tend to overlook these things

The GP comment didn't describe it simply as a party problem; it put some accountability on both parties, and blamed the voters and everyone else participating in public discourse.

But sure, one party has made it a policy to cut spending, including on infrastructure. While the parent might be right that there are a lot of differences within the GOP, those differences aren't meaningful because they result in no differences in votes, laws, or public debate. They vote in lockstep and almost always speak in lockstep.

Re: How Politics and Bad Decisions Starved New York’s Subways

#307

Post by chmaynard »

On return from a trip to Norway last week, I was shocked at how shabby, dirty, and poorly-maintained JFK is in comparison to the Oslo Airport. No doubt the New York subways are in serious trouble, but I'd encourage journalists in New York to take an even broader look at the deterioration of public assets and services throughout the city.

Re: How Politics and Bad Decisions Starved New York’s Subways

#308

Post by golemiprague »

linschn wrote: post #152
golemiprague wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because in the mid 60' the immigration laws changed and the leftist thinking took over, the whole protestant hard working American ethos was erased within couple of decades and now America is just another miserable hodgepodge of tribes who can't unite even to decide about transgender toilets let alone have the vision and capacity to run huge infrastructure projects.

This is so stupid it's not even wrong. Nixon, Ford and Reagan were not leftists, and Reagonomics is not characterized by a love of public spending on infrastructure.

Not talking about the government, I am aware of that, talking about the culture and values.

Re: How Politics and Bad Decisions Starved New York’s Subways

#309

Post by golemiprague »

pducks32 wrote: post #163
golemiprague wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because in the mid 60' the immigration laws changed and the leftist thinking took over, the whole protestant hard working American ethos was erased within couple of decades and now America is just another miserable hodgepodge of tribes who can't unite even to decide about transgender toilets let alone have the vision and capacity to run huge infrastructure projects.

Well go talk to so called leftists and you’ll see we really want to work on infrastructure. While I’m at it I might ask that you reevaluate your opinion on fellow Americans who have different views than you. The ones you see in the news and on twitter are not all of us.

It's not about where people want to work, but what is the atmosphere and the vision. All the "straight white males" moved to the silicon valley and created the tech revolution. Infrastructure was left to second rate governmental entities with their quotas and affirmative actions which led to Detroitisation of America.

Re: How Politics and Bad Decisions Starved New York’s Subways

#310

Post by pavel_lishin »

IkmoIkmo wrote: post #199
joering2 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its gets worse than that; if you read further the reasoning is that "Its hard to buy apartment for less than $800,000 in Brooklyn". Great excuse next time they interview you for the job; check how much is average housing, divide roughly by three, and here is how you have reasonably arrived at your salary. If they look at you odd, just refer to NYT article.

It's absolutely ridiculous. I mean, median household income in Brooklyn is $45k.[0] That's household. The average household size in Brooklyn is 2.75. There'll be some kids in there, but likely the average adults per household is 1.5. So here you have a guy earning close to $300k, likely has a partner with supplemental income too, which is easily 6-8x the median household income...jeez. I mean hell, country wide there…

> the unions are no longer working in the best interests of ordinary folks

Haven't the unions always worked in the best interest of the union members?

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