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Why are we cash strapped? Everyone from the governor and the state legislature to the unions and private contractors seem to be hell bent on destroying it. Why
by mcny 7y ago
Why are we cash strapped? Everyone from the governor and the state legislature to the unions and private contractors seem to be hell bent on destroying it.
Why won't NYS put more money into the subways? Why can't we get driverless trains? Why do trains have to slow to a crawl if there is work being done two tracks over? Do we need barriers between tracks? So many low hanging fruits blocked by greed and short term self interest.
- bradleyjg 7y agoWhy put in more money, when the money we put in already is so inefficiently spent? Let the MTA prove they can be a good steward and then I’d be all for spending more on them as needed.
- bobthepanda 7y agoHas starving poorly run government authorities ever worked?
- bradleyjg 7y agoIs more than $20B/year a starvation diet?
- mcny 7y ago> Is more than $20B/year a starvation diet? You are absolutely right but I still think USD 20B is not enough. How much of the GDP of the Empire State is (directly or indirectly) because of the city? Everyone benefits when the city has better infrastructure. Yes, the unions are at fault. I too get angry when the overtime nonsense making the news. > After five hours, all he could explain is what a chief measurement operator does — claiming Caputo is “one of only a few people” who can operate an “advanced track-geometry car,” which examines the rails for defects. > Overtime payments surged to more than $1.3 billion across the entire MTA last year, up from $1.2 billion the year before, according to Empire Center data. > Tarek justified the megasized paychecks by saying the agency has been working on major upgrades recently, and claiming it is often cheaper to pay an existing employee overtime than to hire another person for the same work. https://archive.fo/fPTqA https://archive.fo/fPTqA Yes, this is a problem. I don't have a solution but I think the solution to this problem will also help introduce self-driving trains and help us reduce head count at the agency which should help decrease costs.
- bradleyjg 7y agoThe unions blocked driver only trains on the L line. What makes you think they’ll allow self driving trains? And it’s not just unions either. The capital spending side is also monstrously inefficient. As far as solutions go, I don’t blame you for not having one but I can’t support any additional money when we can’t even have confidence that it will actually improve anything rather than just going directly into even waste, fraud, and abuse.
- bobthepanda 7y agoPossibly. The assets even in their poorly maintained are worth $1T. In that context it’s about .02% of value a year. A quick Google search suggests that homeowners are recommended to budget 1% of home value for maintenance.
- bradleyjg 7y agoI don’t think that’s a good metric. Why does a house outside OKC require so much less spending on upkeep than a similarly sized and aged house in SV?
- maxerickson 7y agoRules of thumb often don't work for outliers. In the case of Silicon Valley, I would think that service prices would tend to make up some of the difference.
- bradleyjg 7y ago> Rules of thumb often don't work for outliers. How much more of an outlier can you get than a subway system in NYC when the rule of thumb is for single family homes nationwide?
- rayiner 7y agoNYC MTA is not at all cash strapped. It’s budget is significantly bigger than transport for london’s, and the two cities have very similar systems.