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Old Posted Jun 27, 2020, 3:40 PM
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dchan dchan is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Busy Bee View Post
I don't know what the solution is. All I know is it can't go on like it is. The MTA needs to operate like NY is a world alpha city where we consider building entirely new lines within the time frame of a decade, not a century. It needs to completely reform and do what it needs to do to contain costs similar to contemporary peer cities.
I agree, but I also think the history, geography, and regional politics make it difficult for everyone to agree to "row the boat together".

1. Remember: the MTA is just one fiefdom and power broker among many fiefdoms in the region.
2. Ideally, NYC and maybe a few nearby counties should break off and be governed as a self-contained city-state. Instead, it has too many hands in the cookie jar, including the MTA, PATH, NJ State, NY State, NYC, Connecticut (to a lesser extent), individual counties and townships, etc.
3. The system is also rife with systemic and individual corruption. It happens at higher levels (politicians, management, contracts) and lower levels (worker overtime scams, the LIRR worker disability scam, etc.).
4. The NYC region had a master builder in the past (Robert Moses). The government has largely shied away from giving one person or entity so much power, even through unintentional means. People's opinion of Moses will vary (mostly negative), but he definitely knew how to seek out inefficiencies in the system and get things built relatively quickly. Nowadays, we have a "too many cooks" situation, which is made worse because the individual cooks are stealing the ingredients for their own use.

However, not all is nigh. As crappy as its roads and transit systems are, NYC has at least one thing that is absolutely alpha: its water supply system. For me, there is no better tasting water in the world, and all bottled waters pale in comparison to it. So maybe the MTA can take some lessons from the water system to figure out how to deliver a quality product. Or maybe its apples and oranges, but I'm sure there are a few lessons that can translate to an improved product.
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