Fixing New York City’s subway crisis will require taking the drastic step of creating a state-controlled corporation dedicated solely to rebuilding and modernizing the city’s teetering subway system, according to a new report from an influential urban research and advocacy group.
The
Regional Plan Association, whose board includes business and civic leaders, called on Thursday for a “subway reconstruction public benefit corporation” that would have “a focused mandate, streamlined authority, and sufficient funding to rebuild the entire subway system within 15 years.” It was one of the key proposals in a sweeping
new report that addresses the many problems confronting a growing New York region, including decaying transportation and infrastructure, a shortage of affordable housing and the threat posed by climate change.
The subways are currently operated and financed by the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees a sprawling network of subways, buses, railroads, bridges and tunnels. The report described the authority as “an enormous legacy institution” hobbled by competing internal priorities, bureaucratic rules and practices, and a lack of funding. As a result, the report said, it has been too slow to make improvements and adopt modern technology, leaving a backlog of critical infrastructure projects.
“We’re talking about building a subway system for the 21stcentury, and we can’t rely on a 20th-century agency to do it,” said Scott Rechler, a real estate executive who is the chairman of the Regional Plan Association and also a board member of the transportation authority.
One of the group’s boldest suggestions takes aim at one of the subway’s most cherished qualities — that it never closes. The association said the subway should be shut down in the wee hours to more rapidly fix what is broken and add the upgrades that are sorely needed.
The report took five years to produce and aims to provide a comprehensive blueprint for the future. It is only the fourth such report to be released by the association in nearly a century. Three previous reports — in 1929, 1968 and 1996 — helped lay the groundwork for public works projects, including bridges and highways, economic development, and preservation of parkland and open space. The 1996 report called for building a Second Avenue subway and creating a business district on the Far West Side of Manhattan, both of which are now a reality.
The fourth report looks broadly at the transportation system in the New York region, saying its failures are the consequence of years of underinvestment even as demand for services grew and advancing technology raised customer expectations. It proposes building a second bus terminal under the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on Manhattan’s West Side to consolidate intercity buses and free up space at the crowded Port Authority Bus Terminal, and expanding subway and regional rail service and connections.
Nowhere are the problems more urgent than in the city’s subways, which have been
crippled by constant breakdowns, soaring delays and overcrowding. The city comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, recently estimated that subway delays were
costing the city economy as much as $389 million annually in
lost wages and productivity. [...article continues at length...]
