How much are transit systems worth?

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

How much profit has I-95 or I-5 generated?

none because the government chooses not to toll them. If they tolled them they would be very valuable.

The 407, a major ring road in Toronto, is worth an estimated $25 billion USD for a 67 mile highway.

My house doesn't generate profit as it's my primary residence - I could rent it out to generate profit though if I wanted.

Uber is worth something as it has the *potential* to generate profit.

If you convince people that transit has the *potential* to generate profit it would be worth something.

Again - not saying transit doesn't generate value for society - of course it does. But their "value" in terms of what you could theoretically sell them for would be scrap value as they don't have much potential to generate profits for the asset owner. There is a reason they are government run.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

That's for Manhattan, not all of NYC. And I think it's closer to $2 trillion now.

You're probably right, I just took the first number I found. Obviously Manhattan would not be worth nearly as much without its transit system. So, $1 trillion as a ballpark seems not crazy?

(Of course some other place might be worth more, so it's not that simple, but to first order taking Manhattan land value compared to say, Houston land value might be reasonable?) .

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

none because the government chooses not to toll them. If they tolled them they would be very valuable.

The 407, a major ring road in Toronto, is worth an estimated $25 billion USD for a 67 mile highway.

My house doesn't generate profit as it's my primary residence - I could rent it out to generate profit though if I wanted.

Uber is worth something as it has the *potential* to generate profit.

If you convince people that transit has the *potential* to generate profit it would be worth something.

Again - not saying transit doesn't generate value for society - of course it does. But their "value" in terms of what you could theoretically sell them for would be scrap value as they don't have much potential to generate profits for the asset owner. There is a reason they are government run.

Well, they could be private run with subsidy (the subsidy representing the externality not captured by fares, which is very high!)

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by TWAK

The fact that it's land and ROW gives it added value and it would be interesting to see if there is an "urbanized" former ROW somewhere. Instead of a former rail line being a bike path, it would be filled with slim developments.

IN the 1970's, during the city fiscal crisis, NYC shut down some elevated rail lines, unfortunately. 3rd Ave. elevated in the Bronx, the Culver shuttle in Brooklyn and the Myrtle Avenue line in Brooklyn. It's especially sad because these three corridors have had population booms in the interim, and really could use the rail. In fact they're talking about extending the 2nd Avenue subway through the Bronx via 3rd Avenue.

The former Culver shuttle has housing, schools, and other facilities built on the right-of-way. It's an Orthodox Jewish area and the construction is almost entirely for that community:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/12...!4d-73.9872772