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The MTA might be badly run by subway standards but it still gives you a lot more bang for your buck than roads in NY, once you include the market-rate cost of t

by lmm 2y ago

The MTA might be badly run by subway standards but it still gives you a lot more bang for your buck than roads in NY, once you include the market-rate cost of the space that those roads take up.

josephcsible 2y ago
> once you include the market-rate cost of the space that those roads take up That's like saying that since land closer to Central Park is worth more than land further away, that we should demolish Central Park and replace it with more apartments. Property in NYC would be worthless if there weren't roads you could use to reach it.
- katbyte 2y ago
  If there wasn’t the MTA and subway the roads would be so congested as to be useless and New York couldn’t only support a fraction of its density
- lmm 2y ago
  > Property in NYC would be worthless if there weren't roads you could use to reach it. Most of the people who go to Manhattan get there by subway, bus, bike or walking (especially the people who have to work for a living), at a fraction of the space cost of those using cars. Access to property is certainly an important part of making that property valuable (hence why property around stations is worth more), but Manhattan spends far too much (in space) on roads for the amount of access throughput it gets in return.
scrubs 2y ago
Agree - only today I complained about the nyc subway on hn. But a car? Parking it? Tolls? Insurance? To drive around in traffic going no where fast? You're daydreaming. Taxi/Uber when needed and subway the other 90%. I'm two blocks from the subway with coffee and a diner on the way there. Man, it's awesome. I'm annoyed def some days more than others at the mta, but this is a no-brainer. Gd it America! Not everything can be low cost now/today and have long term soundness ... there are too many cars polluting too much in too small of an area going nowhere fast. As a would be business operator of the city, I damn near have a moral imperative to make some cash on that imbalance. I've spent many a $25 going 2 miles or less (say when raining) in a yellow cab. I always feel half stupid for paying it given how slow it is to move two lousy miles.

by lmm 2y ago

The MTA might be badly run by subway standards but it still gives you a lot more bang for your buck than roads in NY, once you include the market-rate cost of the space that those roads take up.

josephcsible 2y ago

> once you include the market-rate cost of the space that those roads take up That's like saying that since land closer to Central Park is worth more than land further away, that we should demolish Central Park and replace it with more apartments. Property in NYC would be worthless if there weren't roads you could use to reach it.

katbyte 2y ago
If there wasn’t the MTA and subway the roads would be so congested as to be useless and New York couldn’t only support a fraction of its density
lmm 2y ago
> Property in NYC would be worthless if there weren't roads you could use to reach it. Most of the people who go to Manhattan get there by subway, bus, bike or walking (especially the people who have to work for a living), at a fraction of the space cost of those using cars. Access to property is certainly an important part of making that property valuable (hence why property around stations is worth more), but Manhattan spends far too much (in space) on roads for the amount of access throughput it gets in return.

scrubs 2y ago

Agree - only today I complained about the nyc subway on hn. But a car? Parking it? Tolls? Insurance? To drive around in traffic going no where fast? You're daydreaming. Taxi/Uber when needed and subway the other 90%. I'm two blocks from the subway with coffee and a diner on the way there. Man, it's awesome. I'm annoyed def some days more than others at the mta, but this is a no-brainer. Gd it America! Not everything can be low cost now/today and have long term soundness ... there are too many cars polluting too much in too small of an area going nowhere fast. As a would be business operator of the city, I damn near have a moral imperative to make some cash on that imbalance. I've spent many a $25 going 2 miles or less (say when raining) in a yellow cab. I always feel half stupid for paying it given how slow it is to move two lousy miles.