If NYC, which has the highest tax base and one of the highest public transit usage rates in North America can't get the MTA right, what hope is there for smaller, less dense cities in the US?
The MTA is a century old legacy system where all changes have to be made in production (because you cannot build parallel train tunnels, there just isn't unused space) with 24/7 uptime. It seems easy to assume a new system could avoid some of the issues that continue to plague it.
I think it’s the other way around. There’s been too much money for too long and an entire ecosystem of corruption, featherbedding, and inefficiency has bloomed into place. A hungrier environment might not attract so many parasites.
Comments
If NYC, which has the highest tax base and one of the highest public transit usage rates in North America can't get the MTA right, what hope is there for smaller, less dense cities in the US?
The MTA is a century old legacy system where all changes have to be made in production (because you cannot build parallel train tunnels, there just isn't unused space) with 24/7 uptime. It seems easy to assume a new system could avoid some of the issues that continue to plague it.
I think it’s the other way around. There’s been too much money for too long and an entire ecosystem of corruption, featherbedding, and inefficiency has bloomed into place. A hungrier environment might not attract so many parasites.