Quote:
Originally Posted by the urban politician
^ I don't get it---WHY?
|
Government Regulations -
- Brownfield environmental remediation and other site preparations (excavations, utilty relocations which are a total bear, and sometimes some significant structural/foundation challenges especially on the L structure)
- full ADA compliance (this is a biggy since it means stations takes up much more space due to ramps, wider platforms and costly heavy-duty elevators),
- multi-step procurement process for planning, design, and construction, and subsequent administration costs,
- the fact that its being done amidst an operating railroad which means the project takes much longer
In the old days, the private enterprise was given the right by government to operate a railroad over a certain public right of way (i.e. a street or alley) but also didn't operate under nearly the same level of scrutiny or regulation as today's public transit; so they could get things built and done alot faster and alot cheaper. (of course part of what drove many of the passenger railroads hopelessly bankrupt was that government started placing minimum service level requirements that could not possibly be self-sustaining given ridership demands....but that's a mostly unrelated tangent).
Yes they are certainly very expensive, but I'm not sure comparing it to a Wal-mart is particularly valid since most of the latter are built of a cookie-cutter design out in sprawlsville, in high volume.