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We want to take you straight to washington dc
Where president binden is about to sign the bypartisan infrastructure bill into law more than one trillion dollars
Let's listen it
Yeay
Here we go on november
Fifteen twenty twenty one president biinden signed be bipartisan infrastructure law
Which included american 's largest investment in public transit ever between that and other federal money from fiscal year twenty twenty two through twenty twenty six
The us government is expected to spend between ninety one and one hundred eight billion dollars on local public transit
But i believe that that with the money coming in from the infrastructure
Ah it's going to actually help us rebuild american transit with that much money at stake using
It effectively will be key
After all the impact is expected to be enormous from connecting people to jobs and economic opportunities to reducing greenhouse
Gas
Emissions
City congestion and accidents data
Also support the idea that the prosperity of a major city like new york or boston is closely tied to the strength of its subways system
According to some estimates
Economic gains could equal about ten percent of gdp
But building infrastructure in the us
And in this case subways is very expensive in fact
It is the sixth most expensive place to build rail trtrsit in the world
And even is that that likely and understatement so what is it
That makes building subway infrastructure so expensive in the us
And can anything be done about it
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When you think about the complexity of the system
What's going on above the street
What's going on on below the street
There's really nothing to compare to in the world
This is common
Bianko
He was the vice president of subways at mta new york city transit from twenty ten to twenty thirteen
Before becoming the president of the agency that year he retired two years later
And then the interesting part about the new york
As there's so many turtles of deground that were built years past that you know you have to realized as you're going through that there are other tunnels down there that you have to avoid you're going to above and low
And it's
It's really of that modering marvel canof ic thing of engineering
It's
It's just very complex
But um i look at our engineering team up in new york
And i just say michael
How did you
How do
You all figure this out during the ank's time
The second avenue you subway expansion the most profile new york city transit t project in decades was in the works while first proposed in the nineteen twenties
It didn't materialize until the early two thousands
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The full project is planned as a sixteen station thirteen point seven kilometer line running from harm all the way to hand over square in the southern tip of manhattan tan to make it managagable costwise
It was split into four phases
Phase one was completed and opened in genuary twenty seventeen
And runs through the upper east side
Phase too is slated to run through harm the third in fourth faces will cover lower manhattan
Phase one was by itself the biggest expansion of the subways system in fifty years
The full project
Yeah
That's expected to cost sixteen point eight billion dollars or two point six billion per mile
That's almost three times
More than the cost of sanfranis goes central subway
And three times the cost of the purple line in los angeles
The transit costs project at new york university
Compiled database of nine hundred raraid rail projects across nearly sixty countries
And found the second avenue subway to be the most expensive subway project in the world
There are some who argue that new york's denity makes this pricy subway a better value per person
The impimpact has on a massive population makes it worth that
And you're look at at a population like new york
Where you you know you have eight million people in the city
Uh Imagine
Imagine what a day in new york would look like without out the ass transit system
How would people be able to move around the streets
Even with transit
Even on a day
When you're moving six million people on the subway
It doesn't look at a different on top light
I mean the number of cars on any of the uh
Any of the avidence in manhattan are still very complex
Still go
Still congested uh
And so just imagine what would happen
If
If transit wasn't there lohundred sixty thousand riiters are expected to be served by the full four phabuild out phase ones cost per writer was twenty six thousand dollars
Almost a quarter of the lost angeles metrros purple line extension
It is also comparable to the per rider cost for the planned thirty nine billion dollar grandparis express in france
Unfortunately the cost to witter ratio more than doubles for these seven point seven billion dollars second phase of the project through harlem
Which is also one of the most crowded neighborhoods in the city in one
That is long desperately needed better public transportation options
New york public transit system is mostly run by the metropoloet in transit authority or mta
It's the largest such agency in america
It serves the population of fifteen point three million people across a five thousand square mile area
That includes new york city
That island
Southeater new york and parts of connecticuate riitership accounts for forty percent of all public transsitrips in the entire united states
We rat eight thousand trains a day
Fifty five hundred buses on the road a day
And on our best days
During my ten
Ten um
We were actually hitting six million
Hitting that boboby of six million customers on the
On the subway in in in many four different days more trips are taken on the mt a subway system
Than on all of the other fourteen toheheavy rail systems in the us s bined ined
It also also kekely worworld's largest system in terms of cost most of mta fifty four point eight billion dollar capital plan for twenty twenty to twenty twenty four goes to subways
Smaller shares go to commuter rail projects and buses
The rest goes to bridges and tunnels
Among other things as late as may twenty twenty three riitership continue to sit well below prepandemic levels and all time highs of the mid twenty eth century for nineteen seventy five to twenty nineteen
Just before the pandemic riitership had increased by seventy six percent
Though other american projects may cost a lot less per mile than the second avenue subway
When measured by the number of people served per dollars spent they look quite expensive the sound transits linwood link in the greater seattle washington area
Costs about fifty thousand dollars per rider
Los angelous metro 's purple and extension section one costs about eighty three thousand dollars per rider
Researchers were worry high construction costs will make voters skitish about supporting public transit in all
But the densest areas in american as we see the cost providor numbers increase it just makes individual projects look less attractive
Even american projects cheaper than new york and a permile basis or eyewater and compared with transit railing
Copenhagan and paris and madrid
The transit costs project found the us is these sixth most expensive country to to build a rail systems
That that stat is deceiving the five countries ahead of it have rail systems
That are far more heavily dependent on tunneling
Which dramatically raises costs a twenty twenty one report from the ino center for transportation found the united states spends one point three billion dollars per mile on projects
That are mostly tunneled like subways new york does skew that average considerably without it
The average drops two five hundred eighty two million dollars
Still that is higher than japan
Germany
Mexico
Chelin in several other tritries
Many of which you're developed economies with similar challenges such as high labor costs and dense cities
According to that data america is not always the most expensive place to build
However many upgrade or ground level projects in the us cost about as much as tunnel projects in other countries
Even without new york city
American rail projects above ground are forty eight percent more expensive than the average and tunneled ones fifty seven percent
There are several reasons
Why us subways cost so much for one
The planning and funding process is slow
Do you look across america
There's all kinds of worthy projects in different child's different cities new york
Of course being the biggest
But you know you wide up enese these arguments
If you live up state in new york
You don't want to be funding
You know new york city projects think of always competing kind of arguments
You've got
You know lawyers get involved it
You know you ve
You've got to deal with all the the core cases that come out of wanning to start a project
Like seconen at second avenue there are a lot of issues just pulling together
The needed funds in many other parts of the world
A federal entity will simply pay for a project up front or guarantee money in the case of a lot of american projects
Money tends to come in phases sporatically just take the example of the latest announcement by secretary of transportation peep
But a judge phase two of the second avenue subway was among them
The total grant five hundred
Hundred million dollars
The total cost of this phase is about seven point seven billion dollars
I think the local share is supposed to be three to four billion dollars
And it's not clear where that money is coming from
And i think the federal government is understandababis is skeptical
That the mta is going to be able to raise that money
And so it doesn't want to write the big check ununl l
That's
That's
That's there
Then you're reaching out to the federal government for a match right youyou're reaching out to the state for the basic fundundyouyouyou're always
Always that mode
That's why
Why say say each each four
Five five year period
When you go to after a capital program
It's so important
To make sure that you have the projects
That people really weren't 't need the united states also doesn't build as much transit as other countries
When a major capital project comes along
Which is only about every fifteen to twenty years
There just isn't as much practice or institutional knowledge in other parts
The world in parts of western asia and um um in in europe where they're routinely building a lot of products
They have people on staff
They have the expertise
There's aaa familiar aregy that comes with these
With these project that we seem to have to reinvent here in uniunites
Tes time time again again sapart other places
And in europe will just hole off um standards and um designs from other metropolitoneerand and proment ment to there saving the whole of time
Saving the whole of of money
And here in the night states
We
We customize things
We
We customize ed tions
We customized ub trains
We customize the empiiors of trains
But a lot of the problems stem from the construction process
Itself there are always unforeseen issues
Below ground
When you open up a street
New york city of all of the infrastructure is is below ground
It's yet also know all the sewers and electrical pending system for different tunnels
It's all below ground
All of that needs to be moved
Uh in order for a project to even begin control led explosions
Underground also known as blasting are needed to dig out tunnels
Face ones three stations used two different escalator contractors and each had of different number of exits elevators and other features
The ratio of station costs to ttunneling costs on the subway was far higher than on other projects in paris
In malan
A reason
Why projects are so overbuild
Politics when big projects do come around the political bodies with seats on transit agency boards often want to tack on streetcape improvements
Parks or other neighborhood beautification
These agencies often have to know how to bargain with local governments
Who have jurisdiction over the areas
Where they want to build
And the transit agencies often don't have much leverage and negotiations
So what that means is that cities will say
Oh Well
If you want to permit you know to construction in our city
You need to like give us all these things
You to we pave our streets
You need to use these types of pipes
You need to you know build us a park
So on and so forth um and you know in new york
We had that problem with second avenue susuwave is one and the empty
I can't forccefully push back on the mayor and say you know pound dirt like we need the permit from you and or to like lelegally do this
So then we're going to have to like you know pay the bribe
Essentially
Politics also slows down planning processes
Seattles public transit projects like the twelve billion dollar to fifteen billion dollar west seattle and battered link extensions allow for a lot of meddling by local officials over things like where tracks and stations are located the transit board feeling heat from constituents often delays the planning process to allow for alternative to be explored
But the longer the project is delayed the higher
The cost simply because of inflation
Labor costs are also higher but not necessarily because of higher pay sweden is a higher country
Yet it's overall labor costs lower projects in the north theast
Us employ many more workers
Many with jobs
That don't always seem e sensential
There are more blue color workers and more white color ones
Forty to sixty percent more in the case of a project in boston
Most sectors in the economy has including increasing productivity over time construction is threat or actually slightly falling
And we go back all the way to nineteen sixty and oppununtil
That that's
That's acsixsixty plus we we dda a four and we see see uefefficiency is not increasing in the construction sector
That's a real problem ment anything where you cannot do
Not increase efficiency is going to be expensive ve other big piece of it is that in in america
In in new york
There's a big overtime culture right so collecting overtime on your pay where as in other parts of the time
The caps on how much overtime you can work
And there's also in the effort to sort of normalize that stuff so as serof okk
You can just colcollect know so other hours of overfortime in a week er whatever is it's like you could only do
You only work a total of forty five hours onside
And think is is the ababin in a friends
The relationships between agencies and contractors are often adversarial and secretive and agencies often have trouble managing contractors a lack of competition among contractors and privatized risk
All inflate bid prices
A lot of the rest of the cost comes down to soft costs
Which include things like design
Insurance
Construction
Management planning and all other expenses in a lot of places
These costs can range from five to ten percent of the total for the second avenue subways
They were twenty one percent transit can be extremely valuable for a city's economy in new york eighty five percent of the people who travel into the business district below sixty first street
Take some form of public transportation highways and roads
Can't match transit in terms of efficient use of space
You can fit many more people in a subways car
Then on a highway in separate vehicles
It's also much worse for the environment transit projects aren't herently more complex than highway projects
Your trains
Tracks
Signalling and communication systems stations and so on opting for standard designs reduces complexity
Which then reduces costs
You don't have to make something from scratch
Every time you can work off a basic model
But if you go to other countries
You see stations are much more
Or see here in a lot of cases
Right they're really
Really utilarian and the user just places to get somebody from from one place to another and service a system
Pretty well here we tend to make them a little bit bigger
A little bit more grand
Even the more monday ones standardizing designs and practices also reduces micro management in political medling
Simply because theare a fewer decisions to make researchers like gold wins say more of the work ought to be brought in house
And those agencies need to be empowered to do their jobs
We would say we still need the consults
We just need a little little bbless of them
And we need leadership at agencies that sort of is on top of the project rather than being guided by the consultants
Regulations often well intentioned or understandable can become honorous or further drive up costs for example a lot of areas prohibit construction during certain hours
But somecases this because
Because equipment makes noise
But sometimes noise can be mitigated
The beeping sound a truck makes when it backs up
Can be silened in favor of a flager on hand to warn traffic or pedestrians
Labour costs can be cucut tackling americamerics over staffing problem
Problem over time culture ture
We're not advocating for cutting anyone's wages
May be be mind for that overtime try to spread it uh more equitably uh
Then the thers
I'ever like
Don't just like throw bodies on jobs
That you know it's not adding or making things more productive
Finding a way out of the chaotic process of planning and securing funding is crucial
Every moment wasted is more money lost
