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| Re: Why New York City will never build another subway station (1552343) | |||
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Re: Why New York City will never build another subway station |
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Posted by Mitch45 on Mon Jul 6 05:14:11 2020, in response to Re: Why New York City will never build another subway station, posted by italianstallion on Sun Jul 5 15:07:57 2020. I agree with the article both as a matter of historical fact and as a matter of current economics.Substantial subway expansion (all new mileage, as opposed to reopening existing closed stations or lines) is so expensive now in this city that it takes a confluence of unusual circumstances to make it happen. In short, there needs to be a lot of money available and the political will to spend that money on expanding the system. History has demonstrated that available money usually goes to system upkeep rather than expansion. At least two bond issues I can think of that were specifically intended for the SAS were diverted from construction to maintenance. But now there’s even more reason to doubt extension - COVID-19 and the sharp rise in working remotely. The raison d’etre for the subways (and earlier, the els) was to spread out the city’s population to the four boroughs within reach of the system. They were intended to spur growth in the outer boroughs and to get people out of overcrowded lower Manhattan and the Lower East Side. They created the identity of the commuter - someone who lived at Point A and worked in Manhattan and traveled by subway to get there.The subways and els were spectacularly successful in this regard. However, with the rise of the Internet came the advent of commuting remotely - ie, being able to work and see other people without leaving your house. As what happens during any public crisis, this technology took sharp leaps forward in the COVID-19 era. Many people (including me) are working remotely from home and are able to attend meetings and meet clients using technology such as Zoom and WebEx. This has accelerated a phenomenon in commercial real estate - companies are thinking long and hard about abandoning the traditional “office” environment and simply having people work from home. Doing this would save businesses a ton of money in rent costs and people could theoretically be more productive if their workplaces were in their own homes. No more physical exhaustion or delays due to commuting. My own employer, a large insurance company, has already strongly hinted that the leases on their two office locations will not be renewed in the spring of 2021. And this trend is only going to increase as remote technology improves. This is bad news for the city, which needs commercial real estate taxes from landlords, and the subways. Fewer people commuting to work equals reduced revenue for the MTA. While there will obviously always be a need for mass transit in NYC, there may very well come a point soon that the demand for new lines will no longer be there. |
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