Privatize the subways

Reader comment on: Privatize the Subways — and the Tunnels, Too

Submitted by Emil Mottola (United States), Jun 26, 2017 00:29

The NYC transit system was built by private companies. The "els" that ran the length of Manhattan, and into Brooklyn and the Bronx and the subways that followed them were the wonders of the world when they were built from 1880-1920. The IRT and BMT were in competition and the fare was a nickel.

But Mayor La Guardia in the 1930s was determined to end private control of rapid transit and forced the "els" out of business, which were then demolished, with promises of more "modern" subways. This was critical steel infrastructure that could have survived centuries with proper maintenance that was simply wantonly destroyed, like the old and magnificent Pennsylvania Station--on a par with the greatest railway stations anywhere in Europe or the world--by modern "planners." The Second Ave. el was razed in 1940. After 76 years only one small piece of it has been partly replaced with a spur of the Second Ave. subway opened just this year, of 2 mile length with 3 new stations only, at a cost of $4.5 Billion.

The MTA which supposedly runs the subways is a bureaucratic nightmare of political patronage and inefficiency. NYC is now third-worldish in its infrastructure. Its bridges--also engineering marvels in their time---are undermaintained and crumbing. JFK airport looks like Nairobi Intl, and there is still no train connection from LaGuardia Airport to Manhattan, which virtually all Asian and European cities have. The city's streets are more conjested and un-navigable than ever. Passengers have been trapped in subway tunnels for hours this year with no light and no fresh air. It is absurd and embarrassing. This is what President Trump who hails from Queens and watched this deterioration and public neglect--is talking about. If only he would consider privatising all of it...

--A former New Yorker

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